Days Of Summer
by Hannah-Nobody
Summary: Summer has arrived, and with it the start of the two month long music camp; Fairy Tail! Full of new songs, friends, and adventures, the campers learn things they never knew about themselves and one another- as well as just how easy it is to sneak booze and a full sized karaoke machine out into the middle of the woods.
1. The Start Of Something New

**Chapter One: The Start of Something New**

 _Now who'd have ever thought that_

 _we'd both be here tonight?_

 _Oh yeah_

 _And the world looks so much brighter_

 _with you by my side_

 _The music pounded through Natsu's veins as the last notes of the song faded away and the crowd erupted into a series of screams. The band members on stage smiled as they tossed various mementos to their mud-splattered fans; picks, drumsticks, water bottles. Hands groped desperately at the air, his own among them._

 _He wasn't really paying attention. His own voice joined in with the noise as he let go of all the energy the atmosphere of the festival has stirred within him. His head tipped back and he squeezed his eyes shut as he cheered._

 _When the band finally left the stage, Natsu looked around. He stood on his tip toes, trying to find Gajeel's unruly mane of black hair in the sea of sweat-soaked festival-goers. When Natsu couldn't spot him, he decided to head back to the tent._

 _Still on high from the previous band's performance, Natsu made his way almost absently through the crowd. Most people lingered, waiting eagerly for the next act to come on, leading him to gently push a few people out of his way. Some people decided to sit during the break, not caring about the mud beneath them. Others remained on the shoulders of their friends, basking in the heat of the sun that had come and gone for most of the weekend._

 _One of the shoulder-riding music lovers caught his attention._

 _She was perched on someone a few people in front of him, and she was stunning. He altered his route in order to take in more of her. She was screaming as though the band were still on stage, making rock signs with her fists as she waved her arms in the air. Her blonde hair was tied in a ponytail, but strands fell loosely on her sunburned shoulders. A pink crop-top exposed her stomach, where someone had painted a peace sign in neon green paint around her belly button._

 _He grinned as she wobbled on a dark-haired boys shoulders, but the blonde's own expression turned from laughter to panic as she lost her balance._

 _Instinctively, Natsu pushed through the crowd and got to her just in time to soften her fall with his own body. The two of them fell to the ground in an ungraceful heap._

" _Oooooowwww," The blonde groaned from on top of him._

 _She raised her head, and a splotch of mud had somehow made its way onto her cheek. Natsu stared at her in bewilderment as she looked at him, eyes wide, then giggled._

 _He could feel the heat in his cheeks as he became aware of her body pressed against his. He'd thrown his tattered shirt away long ago, and surprisingly he didn't feel self-conscious going shirtless among the energetic crowd. Especially not now that the pretty blondes' hands roamed over his bare chest. Natsu quickly sat up before he became too absorbed with her wandering hands, tightening the scarf around his neck before helping her up and sheepishly apologising._

" _No, no, no," She smiled at him, "Don't be sorry! It was Gray's fault. He's so meeeean."_

 _The girl pouted and Natsu felt a smirk pulling at his lips. He had no idea who Gray was, but he was very glad that they'd chosen to shrug her off their shoulders, for whatever reason._

 _Seeing his smirk, the girl's laughter died off and she bit her lip in thought. She stepped closer, invading his personal space. His breath hitched when she placed a hand back on his chest._

" _Thanks," She told him, her voice low, before leaning up on her tip-toes and placing a light kiss on his cheek._

 _Her lips were sticky with pink lip gloss, and he found himself wondering what they tasted like when she drew back._

 _Her hand remained on his chest._

" _Y'know, you're pretty cute," She mused aloud._

" _Erm…" He had no idea what to reply. He'd never been called cute before._

 _Before he had chance to formulate a reply, the girl stepped forward once more. Her arms snaked around his neck, and Natsu quickly discovered that her lip gloss was cherry flavoured._

 _She kissed him deeply, her tongue tracing the seam of his lips before delving into his mouth. He wound his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him as he returned her fervent kisses. The feeling she gave him far excelled that of the music ringing in his ears, or the way bass shook his bones when the band had been on stage. He had no idea who this girl was, but suddenly he felt like this whole weekend had been leading up to meeting her._

 _The girl twined her fingers in his hair, and just as her nails began to scrape against his scalp in the most teasing way, the kiss ended. The girl was pulled away from him and Natsu was left gasping for air. When he looked up, she was pressed against the bare chest of the dark haired boy whose shoulders she'd been sitting on earlier, an arm wrapped protectively around her waist._

" _Geez, Lucy," The dark haired boy scowled, "Can't leave you alone for two minutes."_

 _The girl- Lucy- stuck her tongue out at him, laughing when his frown grew. She removed his arm from her waist, her gaze turning back to Natsu with that dazzling smile as she stumbled back to him._

 _The boy grabbed her wrist._

" _C'mon Lucy, we have to go."_

" _Graaaaaaay," Lucy whined, squirming in his grasp, "You're acting like my daaaad."_

" _Your dad thinks we're at a budding entrepreneur's conference," Gray scowled, "I think I'm showing you a pretty great time in comparison to him."_

 _Natsu watched with raised eyebrows as Lucy tried to dislodge herself from Gray. He would have intervened, but it was clear other boy was being gentle with her, despite her protests. Natsu wondered at the nature of their relationship, praying he hadn't just made out with someone else's girlfriend._

 _Eventually, Gray grew tired of Lucy's protests and slung her unceremoniously over his shoulder, much to Natsu's shock._

" _It's not what it looks like!" Lucy called back to him as Gray carted her away._

 _He watched her disappear into the crowd, banging her fists against Gray's back even has her protests died off into laughter._

 _Natsu's lips tingled._

 _The rest of the weekend was spent looking for her between sets, or hoping to catch a glimpse of her in the queue for a hotdog. Her name rang in his mind like a song. He wanted to see her again._

 _He wanted to thank her for his first kiss._

* * *

Natsu shook the memory from his head and returned to the task at hand.

Packing for camp.

God, how long had it been since that kiss? Two months? No, he was sure it was three. Every day for three months, his thoughts had wandered back to that kiss. To that girl. He'd even wrote a few songs about it, much to his own embarrassment. Not that he'd ever shown anyone of course. And he was pretty sure he'd throw himself out of a window if Gajeel ever found out. Mostly because Gajeel believed that Natsu had hallucinated the whole occurrence, despite the fact Natsu repeatedly assured him that he had _not_ been on drugs.

Speaking of the devil…

"You packed all yer shit yet Salamander?" Gajeel asked as he barged into Natsu's tiny bedroom.

"Almost," Natsu reassured him before turning to back to his bed to pack his last item.

Tenderly, Natsu plucked it from his bed. His most prized possession. A gleaming red fender squire, with custom artwork of a dragon on the neck. A gift from Igneel on his birthday last month. His precious, his baby. Fervor.

Gajeel said it was dumb- Fervor the fender. But Natsu liked it. Sure, the name sounded funny, but the word itself appealed to him. It meant earnestness of feeling, but it also meant intense heat. The word had instantly caught his attention when he'd first learned it in English class. He wanted his music to make people feel things. _Real_ emotion. And every time he delved deep into his own little world of creation, he felt as though every note burned within him, burning to be realized. Fervor was the perfect name. It was everything he wanted his music to be.

Plus, he called her Fev for short.

He lowered the guitar into her case gently and closed the lid before handing it to Gajeel to go put in Igneel's trunk. His dad had taken the day off flying to the rescue in his helicopter to see them both off to camp, and Natsu was grateful.

"Careful with her!" Natsu chided Gajeel as he heard the case hit the door on his cousin's way out.

Chuckling at his cousin's foul-mouthed reply, Natsu picked up his duffle bag full of clothes before casting one last look around his room. A few posters were hanging limply off the walls, and would no doubt be on the floor when he got back, but everything else seemed to be in order.

From his basket in the corner, Happy let out a curious meow. His blue cat stared at him, as though daring Natsu to even try to leave without him. He didn't want to leave the little guy, he really didn't, but…

Natsu bit his lip and groaned. He stormed over to Happy, kneeling in front of him and opening his duffle bag.

"Alright get in you ol' sour puss," Natsu helped the feline into the bag, "But keep quiet until we get to camp!"

Once Happy was safely tucked inside his bag, Natsu left his room, slamming the door shut behind him. Making sure to brush any incriminating cat hairs off his black skinny jeans as he headed for the kitchen, where he found Igneel searching for his car keys.

Igneel was an impressive man, Natsu knew. He was "built like a brick shit house", as Uncle Metalicana so eloquently put it, and his crop of red hair was truly striking to see. Despite being impressively sized, however, Igneel was obviously exhasuted. Natsu's father worked long hours as a helicopter rescue pilot. Those long hours could prevent them from running into each other for weeks at a time, but Natsu understood. He knew Igneel still loved him.

"Heeeey, what's this?" Igneel asked, coming towards him with a devilish grin.

Natsu had a brief moment of panic. Had he been caught cat-napping already? His fear was quelled when Igneel merely swiped the grey beanie from Natsu's head.

" _Daaad_ ," Natsu chuckled as he reached for his hat, "give it back!"

"No!" Igneel laughed as he held the offending item out of his sons reach, "You wear this damn thing all the time. You're not taking some smelly tea-coasty to camp!"

"Awr, c'mon Pops!" Natsu whined, still reaching for his hat, "You know I hate my hair!"

"And why's that son?" Igneel asked just as Natsu finally managed to tear the hat from his father's grasp.

"Because it's fucking _pink_ ," Natsu stated as he shoved his hat back over his hair.

Igneel swatted him over the head for his bad language, causing Natsu to straighten his beanie once more. He grinned sheepishly up at his father, nervously fiddling with the studs in his ears as Igneel scowled at him.

"Yo' old man," Gajeel's head popped into the kitchen, "We leaving or what?"

Igneel sighed, shaking his head as he patted himself down, still searching for his keys. Natsu laughed openly before retrieving them from the fruit bowl on the kitchen bench and offering them to his dad.

He'd sure miss Igneel over the summer, but for some reason, he couldn't wait to get to camp.

* * *

"Jesus, Lucy, I'd like to leave for camp _today_ at some point!"

Lucy smiled to herself as the wind carried Gray's complaints up to her open window. She cast an eye over her neatly packed suitcase, mentally checking things of her list, before zipping it closed and skipping over to the window.

"But my case is so _heavy_ ," She pouted as she hung out of the window.

From the driver's seat of his beaten up Ford Escort, Gray rolled his eyes. Lucy laughed as she watched her grumpiest friend pull himself out of the stuttering car and slam the door behind him. He stomped up her driveway, muttering as he went. It wasn't long before she heard the front door open. She waved to Loke who sat in the backseat of Gray's car before coming away from the window.

Lucy couldn't help her excited smile as she flung her satchel over her shoulder, swinging open her bedroom door in order to pull her case onto the landing. She met Gray at the top of the stairs.

"Excited?" He grinned at her once he noticed her smile.

"Yes!" She beamed back, "I just want to be on the road already!"

"We would be if _someone_ didn't take so long getting ready," Gray joked as he pried her suitcase from her, grunting when he hoisted it up in order to carry it down the stairs.

"Excuse me, but we both know you're the one that's running late."

"Actually, that was Loke's fault," Gray informed her, slamming her case down at the bottom of the stairs with little regard for the recently polished hardwood floors. "It took him a good twenty minutes to say goodbye to all those girls at his door."

Lucy laughed at the thought. She was glad she hadn't been there to fall victim to Loke's… _entourages'_ jealous gazes. She was just about to tell Gray as much when her father walked in.

"Ah, Mr. Fullbuster," Jude Heartfilia greeted, "I trust you will take good care of my daughter while the two of you are at Business Camp?"

Jude Heartfilia was many things. A wealthy business man, the owner of a rather impressive moustache, unable to properly show emotion. He was a little awkward as a father, like he'd never fully adapted himself to the role, but he was loved by his daughter. And above all, he was incredibly easy to fool.

As the heiress to the Heartfilia fortune, Lucy's father had set notions as to what her life would be like. He wanted her to blossom into a successful business woman so that when the time came, she was ready to run the family company. Did Lucy want this?

 _Hell no._

Lucy had felt a deep rooted passion for music since her early days. She'd danced to her mother's records and begged every birthday for singing lessons. It was all she had ever wanted to do. But Jude, like most parents these days, did not deem the arts a worthy career path for his daughter. Before her mother had died, Lucy had managed to persuade him to allow her to attend piano lessons. He'd only agreed because he believed it showed discipline, something that was encouraged in the world of business. But as she became more skilled on the piano, her unyielding desire to be a musician only grew.

Unfortunately, Lucy's path to becoming a musician had been halted abruptly. She had joined an orchestra- allowed because it demonstrated the ability to work in sync with others- but had only been part of it for a year when the tragedy struck.

She and Gray had quit orchestra after that. It was what had brought them together, but they had no passion for it anymore. Not after their mothers had died together in a car accident. Gray had abandoned his violin completely. Its case gathering dust in the loft of his shared apartment, untouched in years.

It had been hard, but together, they found new passions.

Gray had taken up the drums while Lucy found herself writing songs. When the words had begun to spill forth onto the page, Lucy had found herself able to return to the piano again. The words were nothing without the music to go with it.

Throw in two new friends and the taste for adventure and where did they all want to go?

Fairy Tail.

The best music orientated summer camp in a hundred mile radius; a place dedicated to helping young people find their sound and hone their talents.

Would Lucy's father allow her to go to a music orientated summer camp?

 _Hell no._

Those had been his exact words. And so, Business Camp was born.

"Don't I take care of her always?" Gray joked to her father. Lucy noticed him trying not to wince when Jude firmly shook his hand.

"Son, in that outfit, you look like you're about to kidnap her."

Jude raised a scrutinising eyebrow at Gray, who looked down at his faded Fall Out Boy t-shirt and laughed nervously. Lucy felt sorry for Gray, truly she did. But honestly, after his extreme emo phase a few years back, she wondered how her father could protest to anything Gray wore now.

"You won't make a very good impression turning up to Business Camp like that," Jude berated him.

"I know, Sir. This is just for the drive," Gray grinned, "Lucy will be changing too."

Lucy looked down at her own attire. A t-shirt so big on her it hung off one shoulder tucked into denim shorts. She looked back up and echoed Gray's nervous laughter from before.

"Obviously," She smiled at her father.

Jude seem to approve of their decision. After checking his watch, he gestured to Gray to continue hauling Lucy's case to the car –much to Gray's annoyance- while he said farewell to his daughter.

"Have a safe trip," He smiled before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"I will Father," She waved as she retreated to the door, "Don't work too hard while I'm gone!"

She heard Jude laugh as she closed the door behind her. She felt bad for lying to him, but her excitement blotted out the feeling. Gray was slamming the trunk closed as she skipped down the stairs.

"Business Camp, here we come!" Gray raised a fist in the air.

Lucy laughed as she opened the passenger door and scooted in. In the back seat, Loke was sprawled out and cradling his guitar as though it were a lover.

"Shouldn't you make room for Cana?" She suggested as she fastened her seat belt.

"We're meeting her there. She left early with Gildarts," Loke explained, "Man, I can't believe he got us reduced fees because he's teaching. Cana's dad is so awesome."

"He said it was his present for the two of you graduating," Gray said, his voice muffled by the shirt he was pulling off.

Lucy groaned.

"Gray, must you?"

"C'mon Lucy, you know the AC doesn't work," Gray complained as he forced the car to shudder to life, "Would you rather I do it while I was driving?"

"Hey," Loke interrupted, leaning forward so that his head was between the two front seats, "Does your dad still think the four of us are going to Business Camp?"

"Yup," Lucy laughed as Gray pulled away from her house.

She didn't even look back.

"Man, your old man sure is gullible," Loke slumped back in his seat, "I mean, really, Business Camp doesn't even sound real. And if it was, I can guarantee you that Cana wouldn't go. Not even if you paid double her weight in booze."

"I can guarantee _none_ of us would go," Lucy assured him.

As they drove out of town, Lucy retrieved Gray's iPod from the glove compartment. Loke strummed idly on his guitar while she leafed through the music, looking for the song she knew would fit their mood.

When she found it, she plugged it into the speaker and hit play.

Gray groaned.

"What is this?" He gestured to the speakers as the music flooded through the car, "2009?"

" _Graaaaaay_ ," Lucy whined playfully, "You know you still love it."

The song continued as she watched Gray trying very hard not to look at her. Behind her Loke was biting his lip to keep from grinning. When the chorus kicked in, just as she'd guessed, none of them could fight it any longer.

 _No one is as lucky as us_

 _We're not at the end, oh, but we've already won_

 _No, no one is as lucky as us_

 _Is as lucky as us_

The three of them screamed the lyrics together through their laughter as they sped down the highway. Lucy knew right there and then, laughing and singing in their incredibly environmentally unfriendly car, that she was lucky. She was spending the summer with her three best friends in a place she'd always dreamed of going to.

Who knew what adventures awaited her?

* * *

"Lucy wake up. We're here."

Gray kept shaking her until she eventually opened her eyes. His words hadn't fully registered, so when the car passed under an arch bearing the Fairy Tail symbol, she jumped up so high she almost banged her head.

" _We're here!_ " She squealed.

"I literally just said that," Gray scowled.

Lucy was practically hanging out of the passenger side window trying to get a good look at the place. The camp was surrounded by a large lake on one side and trees on the other. The excited chatter of other new arrivals drowned out the sound of the birds flitting through the trees, but Lucy still caught glimpses of them in the afternoon sun light. Gray parked in the gravel parking lot outside of the Reception cabin before she could get a better look at the place.

As the three of them got out of the car, the doors to the reception cabin burst open, drawing everyone in the parking lots attention. Parents of the camps younger attendees stared in shock as an older camp member burst through the doors wearing only a bikini top and cropped jeans. Lucy laughed at their expressions.

"Hey ass-wipes!" Cana called from the top of the steps, "Who's ready for two months of drinking, partying, drinking, and getting laid!?"

"I thought we were here to learn the true meaning of music?" Loke replied skeptically, ignoring the horrified glances of nearby parents.

"I know _I'm_ here to party and show off my drumming skills," Cana winked at them. She drew out the 's' on 'skills', making Lucy suspect she was a little tipsy already.

"And I'm here to show you what a _real_ drummer looks like," Gray called back, gesturing to himself.

Cana stuck both her middle fingers up at him, completely oblivious to the heavy parental presence in the parking lot. Lucy shook her head in exasperation. Cana and Gray's drumming rivalry was almost as infamous back at school as Cana's drinking habits. Almost.

The fourth and final member of their notorious clique barrelled down the steps as Lucy stepped forward to properly greet her. Cana tackled her in a bear hug, making Lucy squeal and laugh.

"Me and my girl are gonna get us some nice tail," Cana muttered to herself as she squeezed Lucy, "Some hotties. What are you into Lucy? Singers? A bassist? Maybe a cello player?"

"Cana," Lucy whined, "Get off!"

"What?" Cana laughed as Lucy disentangled herself, "I know all the guys at camp are gonna _love_ these."

Lucy felt her face turn red as Cana groped her boobs. She swatted her friend's hands away, but it was too late. Parents were already shielding their children's eyes.

"Aahh, you guys are here!" Another voice called from the reception cabin.

At the top of the stairs stood Cana's father, Gildarts. Lucy had always liked Cana's father. Now even more so since he got them reduced entry to Fairy Tail. A part of her wondered if he had taken the job here over the summer because of how much he knew his daughter and her friends wanted to go. It seemed like the sort of thing he would do.

"Hey Mr. Clive," Lucy smiled at him as he reached the bottom of the steps.

"Lucy, how many times? Call me Gildarts," He smiled in return. He then turned his attention to Gray and Loke, who still had yet to unload the car, "You guys unpacked the ladies luggage yet? C'mon, I'll show ya where you can take her stuff, and then I'll show you where you guys are at."

"We do we have to lug around Lucy's stuff?" Gray frowned, "Have you actually lifted her suitcase? I swear she packed her whole wardrobe!"

"Be a gentleman!" Gildarts scolded him as he opened the trunk, "And put a damn shirt on, you're giving that girl over there a heart attack!"

Lucy and Cana turned to where Gildarts had gestured to. Sure enough, across the parking lot a delicate looking blue haired girl was staring at Gray's bare chest, her face completely red. When Cana burst out laughing, the girls blush only deepened.

"C'mon," Cana beamed when she finally got her laughter in check, "We'll head over to the auditorium while your chaperone is sorting your shit out-"

"I'm not her chaperone!" Gray called from behind them.

"-My old man says he's got a heck of a show planned for orientation," Cana continued, ignoring Gray's outburst completely, "I wanna get front row seats."

Lucy let Cana pull her along with a smile on her face. _This was it!_ Once orientation was over, she'd be an official Fairy Tail Camper! Along with a couple hundred other kids. She'd have to make friends in the crowd.

* * *

Natsu shuffled awkwardly as more and more people filed into the outdoor auditorium. He was anxious for this to be over. It wasn't that he didn't want to be here- of course he did, he'd been waiting for this for months- it was just that he was anxious to get to his cabin. They'd been intrusted to leave their bags at reception, to be taken to their cabin during orientation.

Happy was still in the bag.

He'd managed to hold on to one of two of his most prized possessions he'd brought along though. Apparently, instruments didn't count as luggage. Or the camp managers understood how precious they were to their players. Either way, Fev was strapped safely to Natsu's back in her padded case.

"Excuse me," A soft voice tapped his shoulder. "Can you take that off? It's kinda hard to see."

Natsu turned to see a small girl with wild blue hair smiling at him brightly. He muttered a few apologies and took his guitar from his shoulders, resting it against his feet instead.

"Thanks!" She grinned, and then gestured to the figure standing beside him, "Anything you can do about that giant?"

Beside him, Gajeel turned and scowled at the girl.

"Ain't my fault you can't see, Shrimp."

The girl pouted at the back of Gajeel's head as he turned away from her.

"Unfortunately, no," Natsu sighed. "But if you can find a hack saw, I'll be willing to make him short for you."

The girl giggled, the sound turning into a laugh when she noticed Gajeel's annoyed glance.

"I'm Levy," She introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you," Natsu smiled shyly, "I'm-"

But he never got the chance to introduce himself. The giant speakers by the stage sent a crackling sound out the audience, effectively silencing them. Everyone gathered waited a moment, and then a voice drifted out. A voice Natsu knew quite well.

 _Is this real life?_

 _Or is this just fantasy?_

"Dude," Gajeel grasped his arm in a death grip, his eyes fixed on the stage. "It's not."

 _Caught in a landslide,_

 _No escape from reality._

"Dude," Natsu began to grin, "it is."

 _Open your eyes,_

"Oh my god!" Levy squealed behind them, "I love this song!"

Apparently, everybody else did too. The music drifted out from the speakers, and the longer the song went on, the more people began to sing. By the time the second verse was over, over half the auditorium was singing.

At the third verse, Natsu and Gajeel's attention was drawn from the stage when Levy began to do her own dramatic rendition.

" _Mama, just killed a man,_ " she sang along dramatically, her arms making wild gun gestures, " _Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead._ "

Natsu glanced at Gajeel to see his cousin watching her with a strange mix of horror and fascination. Levy didn't even notice him staring at her, she was so absorbed in the song.

By now, everyone who knew the song was singing along. Some of them doing so a lot like Levy. The people who weren't singing along mostly consisted of younger kids who had no idea that they were listening to one of the greatest songs ever made.

His own voice joined the crowd and Natsu couldn't help the giddy feeling that rose in his chest. _This_. This was what he lived for. That feeling that music gave you, like you were a part of something. Something very alive.

His fingers twitched as the guitar solo begun. He was concentrating so much on mimicking the notes against his thighs that he almost missed the appearance of a man on stage. He was a pretty big guy, his muscled chest clearly defined by the shirt that clung to him. He was grinning cockily as he brushed back some of the brown hair off his face.

"Are we ready for this kids?" He spoke into the microphone over the last notes of the solo, "Are we ready?"

The air was practically humming with energy and excitement when the guitar stopped. The piano picked up. Natsu grinned as everyone seemed to be bobbing their heads in time with the notes. When the vocals kicked back in, the man on stage waved his arms dramatically and pointed the microphone to the audience.

Everyone screamed the words at him.

 _I see a little silhouette of a man,_

 _SCARAMOUCHE, SCARAMOUCHE, WILL YOU DO THE FANDANGO?_

The man on stage gestured for certain parts of the audience to sing different parts of the song. Everyone became carried away with the music. Natsu forgot all his nervousness about starting camp and just let the music guide him. He was singing dramatically with strangers throughout the whole song. Even Gajeel seemed less intimidating when he was screaming _Bohemian Rhapsody_ at you. Well, Levy seemed to think so at least.

When the song was over, people cheered despite their breathless laughter. The man on stage gave an over exaggerated bow and then laughed into his microphone.

"That was amazing you guys," He said, and Natsu was included to agree. "My name is Gildarts Clive. Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

This got another cheer, perhaps even louder than before. This Gildarts guy sure knew how to get things going. After introducing himself, he went on to explain that he was the camp's residence guidance councillor, and that he could likely be found in his office should anyone ever need him. After explaining where his office was, Gildarts then asked them to bid a warm welcome to the man in charge, Makarov Dryer.

Natsu still couldn't believe it. He'd been to Fairy Tail a few times now, but this was the first time the director had been well enough to personally be there. It was one of the biggest draws for the camp; that Fairy Tail was ran by the infamous Makarov Dryer, the former guitarist to legendary band: The Ten Wizard Saints. But reading about it and actually _seeing_ a living legend in the flesh were to entirely different things.

Reading about him was more impressive.

Somehow, all the photos didn't manage to translate how _tiny_ Makarov actually was. Natsu could barely see him from this distance away!

"Jeez," Levy whispered behind him, "He's shorter than me!"

Natsu bit back a laugh as Makarov welcomed them all and explained how things went down here at Fairy Tail. He wasn't nearly as interesting as Gildarts had been, and Natsu soon found himself wondering if Happy had suffocated in his bag yet.

The next thing he knew, the show was over and it was time to make their way to the cabins. Natsu and Gajeel had been lucky enough- to use 'lucky' as an extremely loose term- to be roomed together, so he simply tried to follow his cousin's unruly mane of hair through the crowd. Unfortunately, with all the people pushing and shoving, Natsu managed to lose sight of him pretty easily.

He stopped at the open field near the auditorium, standing on his tip toes to look over the crowd for Gajeel. Natsu's grip was tight on the straps of his guitar case as people jostled to get past him. _Where had that bastard run off to?_

A weight collided with his back and he stumbled slightly.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" A light voice cried worriedly as slim fingers clasped his arm to steady him.

Natsu turned to tell them it was fine, but his breath stopped short when he realised who had bumped into him. Pale skin, blonde hair, even those damned short shorts.

"Lucy?" He breathed.

This couldn't be happening. It was a miracle. The girl from the festival. His first kiss. She was _here_.

Lucy cocked her head to the side slightly, a small furrow appearing between her brows.

"Do I know you?" She asked politely.

His heart sank.

"I-I-" He stuttered.

"God damn it Lucy!" A skimpily clad brunette appeared from the crowd and grabbed her arm, "Hurry up! I want us to be sharing a bunk!"

Lucy laughed and let herself be pulled along, no doubt desperate to get away from his blubbering idiocy.

"See ya around!" She waved at him.

Natsu just stood there in shock.

He couldn't form the words. He couldn't even feel satisfied that he could prove to Gajeel that the girl he'd been pining over for months was actually real. The girl he'd written countless songs about was at Fairy Tail. His muse.

But she didn't remember him.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello and welcome to the band camp AU! THIS IS A COLAB WITH NOT-JUST-ANY-FANGIRL so send her some love for this (if you love it) too! If you expect teenage dorkiness with some classic songs thrown in there then you shall not be disappointed. We've made a playlist to go along with this fic on spotify, and you can find a link to it on both mine and not-just-any-fangirl's tumblr! We hope you enjoy this story!**

 **\- HN & NJAF **


	2. Teenage Wonderland

**Chapter Two: Teenage Wonderland**

 _Cause when we are gone_

 _We hope for the knowledge that you_

 _Wanted us to stay_

"See ya around!" Lucy waved at the stranger.

She let Cana drag her away, looking over her shoulder to see the boy that had somehow known her name staring after her with a dumbstruck expression on his face. She smiled slightly at his expression, deciding she'd have to find out later how exactly the cute stranger had come to know her name.

Right now, she had to focus on Cana's incessant pulling on her arm. The brunette had managed to drag her almost halfway to the cabins while Lucy was pondering over the identity of the guitar-clutching stranger.

Lucy really had wanted to stay talking to that cute boy, something about him just seemed so... _familiar_. Like a song you hear when you're asleep and faintly remember in the middle of the day. But when Cana actually wanted something, well, Lucy had learned it was easier to just go along with her friend's plans. Cana had held onto Lucy's wrist the entire time they hurried along the gravel paths, twisting and winding between large buildings until they were in the designated cabin area. Grass and a few trees outlined the paths and gave the illusion of privacy between the cabins, Lucy's eyes scanning the numbers that rested above the doorways along the wooden cottages. If Lucy had remembered correctly what the kind girl had said her cabin number was when she dropped off her suitcases, then they would be there in three, two, one..

"Ta da!" Cana announced proudly, throwing open the door to cabin 15. "Let's fuck shit up!"

Lucy brought her hand and rubbed at her temple, apologetic grin already working it's way onto her face before she was even looking at the other girls in the room. Cana half blocked the doorway, both hands on hips and chest thrust out like some sort of alcoholic super hero, and Lucy looked past her to see who they were going to be sharing a place with for the next ten weeks.

Both girls were looking at them with a mix of horror, amusement, and curiosity. Kind of like a car accident. Actually, Lucy was pretty sure she had just found the perfect way to describe Cana's entrance into anything. As it was, a petite looking girl with an angular face and intelligent eyes was staring at them over the top of a book, obviously having been interrupted by the front door being kicked in. Blue locks framed her face, the rest pulled back by a bright orange bandana, red reading glasses finally slipped off her nose as her wide brown eyes were too focused on Lucy and Cana to notice. The other girl, also with blue hair, was equally frozen over her bed. She was lying a few white ghost looking dolls on her pillow, her bunk apparently the one below the bookish one. Lucy squinted a little bit and felt her smile grow, this girl was the same one that Gray had over stimulated earlier in the parking lot! Bright blue eyes were blown wide as she gawked at Cana, most likely over the brunette's skimpy clothing if the girl's high collared jacket and floor length skirt said anything about her modesty. Lucy wiggled her fingers in a shy wave before deciding that maybe she should be the one to continue introductions. God knew what else Cana was about to say, the other girl's eyes sharpening in on the standing blue haired girl in a way Lucy knew all too well.

"Hi, my name's Lucy, and this is my friend Cana," Lucy said sweetly as she pushed past her friend who was now leaning on the doorway. For support or laziness Lucy couldn't tell. "I guess we're roomies." The girl laying on the top bunk finally closed her book, hesitant smile returning Lucy's bright one.

"I'm Levy, it's a pleasure to meet you Lucy, Cana." The girl's voice was high and light, fitting her pixie-ish look. The final girl slowly straightened, hands clasping timidly in front of her.

"Juvia is also pleased to meet her cabin mates, Lucy and Cana." Juvia said, her voice soft. Lucy felt her forehead wrinkle at the girl's odd speaking. Had she just used third person?

"Hey, I know you!" Cana proclaimed, Lucy could practically see the light bulb flashing over her head as she watched Cana sling an arm around Juvia's shoulders, " _You're_ the one who was getting all hot and heavy over our little drummer boy in the parking lot!"

Juvia noticeably blushed. She fidgeted nervously as Cana snickered in her ear. Lucy shook her head. Cana was such a sucker for making other people uncomfortable, and the girl herself was practically shame-proof.

"The way he just took off his shirt like that… so striking. _So bold_." Juvia seemed to mutter to herself before directing her gaze to Lucy, "Juvia envies you greatly. It seems we are to be love rivals."

There was a moment of silence before Cana burst out laughing. Lucy groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as her friends laughter rang in her ears. Juvia's eyes flittered between them, her expression a mixture of confusion and concern. _Poor girl,_ Lucy thought to herself. She seemed quite reserved, but Lucy knew that nothing brought you out of your shell better than overexposure to Cana.

"Really Juvia, there's no rivalry for Gray's love." Lucy assured her.

"Like, _at all."_ Cana giggled before sighing to herself in amusement, "Our poor little emo friend is still a virgin."

Juvia's face turned the colour of a tomato as she stared at Cana wide eyed. Cana noticed and fell into another fit of laughter. Even Levy couldn't seem to hold back a laugh at Juvia's expression. Lucy felt a little bad about allowing Cana to blab secrets about Gray's- albeit non existent- sex life, but even she had to admit, it was funny.

"So who's your 'emo drummer' friend?" Levy asked them once their laughter had calmed down.

"Oh, he's one of the friends we came to camp with," Lucy explained, "His name's Gray."

"You'll probably recognise him when you see him," Cana added, "Think 2007 Pete Wentz meets Edward Cullen and you've got Gray."

Lucy snorted.

"Yup, that's our boy."

"No Lucy," Cana winked at her, voice dripping with mock seriousness, "he's Juvia's boy now."

"Juvia is not sure Gray would-"

"Don't. Even." Cana cut her off, "If there's one thing I won't tolerate in this cabin Juvia it's self doubt and sobriety."

"That's two things." Lucy pointed out.

From her perch on her bed Levy chuckled at their easy banter. Lucy caught her eyes and smiled. She had a feeling she'd get along just swell with her new roommates. Well, as long as Juvia remembered they weren't love rivals.

"So you guys came with a friend?" Levy asked.

"Two actually," Lucy replied as she made her way over to her own bed, "It's me, Cana, Gray and Loke. And Cana's dad is the guidance counsellor here this year."

"That's so cool!" Levy smiled, "I came here with my friends Jet and Droy. We're in a band; Shadow Gear. We need a few more members though."

"The four of us tried the whole band thing, but it didn't really work out." Cana smirked as she finally moved away from a relieved looking Juvia and flopped down on her bed, "What with two drummers and Little Miss Classical over here, we were a disaster from the start."

"I don't _play_ classical, I'm just classically _trained."_ Lucy ground out, staring pointedly at Cana who merely rolled her eyes at her. Lucy opted to change the subject, her performance history not really something she wanted to delve into just yet, "What about you Juvia? Any friends here at camp?"

"Juvia does not have friends," she said as she looked away, fiddling with the multiple dolls Lucy had seen her placing earlier. Cana stormed over to Juvia so that she was gripping the pale girl's shoulders roughly, high pitched 'eep' tumbling from her lips at the sudden man handling.

"What the hell you going on about with this 'I don't have friends' bullshit?" Cana questioned sharply, eyes quickly sobering as she stared down Juvia. Just as quickly as the seriousness had come it was gone, Lucy became infected by Cana's easy grin and knowing by this point how to roll with the brunette's mood swings. "Ya got us now! Who could want better friends than us bitches?" Lucy walked over and put her own hand gently on Juvia's shoulder, looking pointedly at Cana over her word choice.

"Cana's right, you have us!" She encouraged, smiling brightly at Juvia's watery grin. Levy finally came down from her bunk, grinning up at the other girls. And look up she had to, as Lucy wasn't sure if Levy was over 5'.

"Besides, you really don't have much of a choice," Levy winked, "Not if you want to get into this MCR wannabe's good books."

Juvia glanced hesitantly at Lucy and Cana, waiting to see their response to Levy's jab at their friend. The two girls merely giggled at Levy's words.

"Oh honey," Cana grinned at Levy, "You have _no idea_ how right you are."

* * *

"Achoo!"

"Ha! I fucking _told you_ it was too cold in this shitty cabin! Now piss off and let me at the thermostat."

Natsu jumped down from his bunk, choosing to ignore the ladder to his right. Gray, one of the other two boys that were sharing a cabin with him and Gajeel, still stood leaning against the wall -trying to act all cool, which Natsu thought was annoying and pathetic- shirtless and blocking the highly sought after control of the temperature. Gray's upper lip pulled back in a sneer and he narrowed his eyes at Natsu as the boy slowly stalked towards him.

"It ain't fucking cold you dipshit, just 'cus you have the body temp of a goddamn lizard doesn't mean the rest of us need to melt."

"What did you call me Ice Dick?"

"Are stupid _and_ deaf, Ash Breath?"

Natsu lunged at Gray with a roar, the other boy grappling him to the ground. Soon fists were flying and the scuffle was quickly developing into a full fight, and just as Natsu lifted a fist to bring down onto Gray's jaw his arm was pulled back sharply and his body was flying through the air. His back hit with a painful smack and his head with a loud crack against the bed frame, an angry growl sounding in his throat as he glared at the person who had thrown him.

"The fuck was that for, Metal Ass?" He seethed, unable to actually stand as there were currently nine boys rather than the expected three in the cabin.

"You two were gettin' on my nerves." the tall boy said simply, shrugging before he returned to his bunk, slouching on the thin mattress and going back to tuning his guitar. Very poorly.

"That's it, I'm going to go find my beloved, or maybe some other pretty thing to play with. Anything is better than _this_ shit show," Loke groaned, hands throwing up in the air as he climbed down from his bunk above Gray's. His orange hair was even spikier than Natsu's was naturally, tinted glasses barely hiding his narrowed eyes as he looked at his cabin mates. Both him and Gray had this sense of superiority that made Natsu burn with anger and want to punch them in their stupid faces. They had shared a _look_ when Natsu had stumbled through the front door, heartbroken after Lucy had crushed him with a simple blank look. Maybe he was projecting, but _God_ did he hate being looked down on. Even Gajeel didn't really look down on him. Well, other than _literally._

Natsu scowled at Loke's back as he watched the slightly older boy head for the door, only to stop dead in his tracks and let out a piercing shriek when something black dashed across his path.

"WHAT IN THE HELL-" Loke screamed, but was cut off by Gray's sharp laugh.

"Oh man, I wish I'd filmed that for Cana."

Loke's gaze snapped around the room as he backed away from the door. The boy looked panicked. Natsu raised an eyebrow as he watched Loke grab his friend by the shoulders. _What were these people on?_

"Gray, this is _serious,_ " Loke pleaded, "What if our cabin is- is… _haunted?_ "

Natsu shared an amused glance with Gajeel, who seemed to be barely containing his laughter.

"Christ Loke, did you watch Paranormal Activity again?" Gray rolled his eyes, "You're worse than Lucy."

Natsu's attention snapped back to the dark haired boy. Gray shot him a bored expression before turning away from his friend, and that's when everything clicked.

" _You…_ " Natsu whispered to himself.

The dark haired boy. The dark haired boy that had carried her away. That had _literally dropped her on top of him._ Lucy's friend. Lucy's maybe-boyfriend-maybe-just-friends-but-maybe-not but _god_ he hoped he wasn't her boyfriend or he'd just give up on love altogether. He was _that_ Gray. The shirtless, handsy, emo-looking _douchewad_ who had _robbed_ him of the chance to speak to the prettiest girl at GMG Fest. Who had cut short _the best and only kiss of his life._

" _You,_ " Natsu growled at Gray.

"Huh?" Gray frowned at him.

Natsu made to lunge himself at Gray but his plans were cut short by Gajeel, who'd grabbed him by his shirt collar and was holding him up like a rag-doll, allowing his legs to flail wildly as his cousin stared at him with seemingly deep concern.

"You _on something_ again Salamander?" Gajeel squinted at him.

"I WASN'T HALLUCINATING AND I CAN PROVE IT," Natsu bellowed, pointing an accusing finger at Gray, "HE WAS _THERE_ AND HE _RUINED IT!_ "

"I was where now?" Gray scowled.

"Can we please direct our attention to the more pressing matters at hand?" Loke pleaded, "Like, oh, I don't know, the possible demon lurking within our midsts?"

"WHY DOESN'T SHE REMEMBER ME, ICE FOR BRAINS? HUH? YOU GONNA TAKE THAT FROM ME TOO? LIKE WARMTH AND GENERAL HAPPINESS-"

"Seriously, what are you talking about, you-"

"Guy, this isn't a joke anymore, my pillow just _moved_ -"

"ENOUGH!" Gajeel yelled.

Natsu and the others went silent. They all stared at Gajeel in surprise. Natsu recognised that look. Gajeel was annoyed. _Very annoyed_. Natsu resumed his feeble effort to break free.

"You," Gajeel pointed at Loke, "learn the difference between an agent of satan and a goddamn _cat._ If you so much as _attempt_ to exorcise Lily, I'll be chopping you up into cat food."

Loke gulped audibly a moment before a black ball of fur bolted out from under his bed and shot between his legs. Natsu snickered to himself as Pantherlily, Gajeel's own feline companion, wound his way around his masters ankles. Guess he hadn't been the only one to sneak in a pet.

"And you," Gajeel continued, moving on to Gray, "Put a _fucking shirt on. Now."_

Natsu smirked to himself as Gray fumbled for a shirt, but his laugh was cut short when Gajeel abruptly let go and he hit the floor with thud, pain shooting up his spine from where his ass hit the wood.

"And _you,"_ His cousin stared down at him, "What in the hell are you shouting about. Did ya meet this moron in a strip club or somethin'?"

"No," Natsu curled up his nose at the mental image, "He's Lucy's _-"_ Natsu stuttered for a moment, not quite sure what Gray was to her, "H-He knows Lucy!"

Natsu gave his cousin a moment to let the news sink in. Gajeel leaned back. He seemed to consider a moment before nodding in understanding.

"I see," He muttered, "So you've finally progressed from hallucinations to full blown conspiracy theories huh?"

Natsu grit his teeth as Gajeel laughed at his obvious annoyance. Why did everyone think he was crazy?! Was it really so hard to believe a girl would want to kiss him?

"Wait, wait, wait," Loke rubbed at his temples, "What does Lucy have to do with anything? And, for the record, we're _both_ Lucy's friends."

"Gajeel doesn't think she's real." Natsu huffed.

"Oooooohhhh-kay," Gray frowned, shaking his head as he rifled through his pockets. "Not that I would want to help Flame Brains case at all- or ever- but I'd like to think one of my best friends isn't just a figment of my imagination. Does this help?"

Gray pulled out his phone from his pocket and held it in Natsu and Gajeel's general direction. Gray clicked a button to bring the phone to life, causing Natsu to scramble across the floor to see the image that lit up the screen.

Under normal circumstances, Natsu would have mocked the corny nature of Gray's lockscreen but right now he was too busy staring at his second glimpse of Lucy in three months. The photo was of Gray, Loke, Lucy, a brown-haired girl he vaguely recognised from pulling Lucy away from him earlier, and a silver-haired boy who looked not much older than Gray. The five of them lay sprawled across a couch, all looking slightly disheveled and bleary eyed as though they'd been out all night. On one end of the couch was Loke, his legs tossed over the armrest and his glasses sitting crookedly on his nose. He was sticking his finger in the ear of the brown haired girl who sat on the floor in front of him, her hands supporting a heavy head. The silver haired boy was clearly unconscious. His feet were thrown over the back of the couch and his face had gone red from all the blood rushing to his head. Or so it seemed from what Natsu could tell. The boy's face was covered in crudely drawn mustaches, glasses, and… yup, that was a penis.

And on the other end of the couch sat Gray and Lucy. She was seated in his lap, and the two smiled at eachother broadly as Lucy held a pen in the air. Her feet rested on the silver haired boy's chest, and Natsu noticed absently that she was missing a shoe. And that also- much to his dismay- Gray's arm was circled protectively around her waist. Just like it had been at the festival.

"Well I'll be Salamander," Gajeel whisted behind him, "She looks just like you sing about in the shower."

"You sing about Lucy in the shower too?" Loke asked, surprised. It took a nudge from Gray for him to remember himself, "Wait a minute, how do you even know her in the first place? It's rare that a man vying for her attention gets my much needed seal of approval. I'm sure I would remember you."

Natsu groaned to himself. This day had turned into one hell of an emotional rollercoaster for him. He didn't need Gajeel making it worse by embarrassing him, and he certainly didn't need ailurophobic morons questioning him about his love life.

He glanced at Gray. The dark haired boy was frowning to himself as his fingers brushed over the image on his phone. Natsu realised he hadn't figured it out yet. Wow. Lucy didn't remember him and apparently neither did her frozen-brained excuse of a friend.

Was he really that forgettable?

Natsu's brows furrowed as the thought occurred to him. He didn't notice Gray lunging at him until the last second.

The two of them fell to the floor, narrowly avoiding crushing Pantherlily. Gajeel picked up his cat, protectively clutching him to his chest as he watched his cousin squirm beneath their new roommate. Natsu tried to dislodge the dark haired boy, but was stunned into submission when Gray ripped of his beanie and held it victoriously in the air.

"Ah HA!" Gray cried, "I _knew_ I recognised your ugly face from somewhere. The pink proves it!"

"Gray, you can't condemn a man for dying his hair pink," Loke said seriously, "Let him make his own choices."

"I don't give a shit about his fugly hair colour moron, it just proves my point," Gray stood up abruptly and turned to his friend, all the while pointing a finger down at Natsu, " _This_ is the guy I told you about! The one from the festival."

"You mean the one who molested Lucy?" Loke raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I did not molest her!" Natsu yelled as he shoved himself into a sitting position, " _She_ kissed _me_."

"Yeah, and I highly doubt she would have done it if she hadn't been _blind drunk_ ," Gray scoffed.

Natsu almost flinched. He felt a pain in his chest, the words stinging as they rang through his ears. But of course. _Of fucking course._ The thought had always been nagging at him in the back of his mind. It had been too good to be true, a pretty girl like that picking _him_ out of a crowd full of people. He'd pegged her strange behaviour down as her just being a weirdo, but he saw how naive he had been now. Who in their right mind would go for him?

His three roommates continued to mutter about the past while Natsu became caught up in his thoughts. As if sensing his darkening mood, he heard a soft thud behind him and turned to see Happy stretching his legs and sauntering towards him. The cat brushed his face against Natsu's knees as he crossed his legs beneath him. Natsu smiled down at his blue-furred friend. At least Happy didn't need to be drunk or bored to hang around with him.

"I don't know Gray, he doesn't really seem like that type of guy…" Loke's words drifted over to him.

"I'm pretty sure Salamander wouldn't know what to do with a girl if he got one," Gajeel snickered.

"I can hear you y'know," Natsu scowled at them.

"Then maybe you should- What is that?"

Natsu followed Loke's concerned gaze to the bundle of fur in his lap.

"This is Happy," Natsu introduced him, "My cat."

"It's… blue?"

Natsu sighed. And people said _he_ was slow. He bundled Happy up into his arms before standing and making his way back to his bed.

"Great, so he abuses girls _and_ animals," Gray huffed.

"Hey Ice Princess, do you ever hear the sound of your own voice and think 'man, I should really shut the fuck up," Natsu inquired with fake politeness.

"No, but I'm guessing that's what goes through your mind every time you open your mouth."

Happy let out a yelp as Natsu accidentally squeezed him too hard. He was nine hundred percent certain he wouldn't be able to spend two months with this _prick_ without breaking something. Preferably his neck.

He was about to offer a snappy retort littered with curse words and maybe a punch or two when a soft voice filled the cabin. Natsu scowled to himself. Was that… _Bruno Mars?_

All heads turned to Loke as he patted at his jeans pockets, fishing out his phone and pressing a button just before they could hear about beautiful girls all over the world.

"Hey babe," Loke smiled into the receiver, glancing at his unpacked bags as he turned away from the others, "Yeah we're all unpacked. Uh huh… I'm glad one of us has nice roommates then. What? Oh yeah, they can hear me. Wanna say hi? Just kidding. They're not Loke approved yet. Yeah… alright, no problem babe. Alright, _Sunshine._ Don't pretend you don't love it. See ya in a few."

Gray rolled his eyes when Loke turned back to him, even as a rueful smile played on his lips.

"That was Lucy," Loke informed him, "She wants us to meet her at the cafeteria."

Natsu curled tighter around Happy. Why had Loke called her babe? And _sunshine_? Were they a thing? Were Lucy and _Gray_ a thing? Did it even matter? Lucy would never go for a guy like him, she was too full of life and sweetness and weird in the best way to ever sink down to his level.

"She's gonna punch you if you keep calling her pet names," Gray drawled out as he shrugged off his shirt -again. "You know she's hates how flirty you are. Cana has a better chance of getting in her pants than you do." he finished, dry smile twisting his face as Loke 'hrmphed' irritably.

"You're just jealous of our love. Lucy will see it too, sooner or later." Loke shot back as he fixed his glasses on his nose.

"Now who's the creepy one." Gajeel mumbled under his breath, Gray quickly stifling his laugh into a cough at Loke's sharp glare. Natsu however was too focused on the small flame of hope that had ignited in his chest at Gray's scoffing at Loke. Lucy wasn't with either of them? She was single? Even if she didn't remember him, that at least meant there _might_ be some hope. A chance.

"Well, we shouldn't keep the girls waiting too long. Cana is probably already on her fifth drink." Loke said flippantly, signalling that he was ready to leave. Gray sneered at Natsu when he looked over, obviously wanting to crush any life that had returned to his slanted eyes as his brain was over working.

"You better stay the fuck away from her, Pinky. Attacking her once is enough, don'tcha think?" he said sharply, Natsu leaping from his bed and stepping towards Gray in a challenge. Before he could speak Loke's exasperated voice cut in.

"Graaaay," Loke whined, already halfway out the door. Gray made a final face at Natsu before turning on his heel and walking past Loke out the door. He heard Loke's quiet voice, even as the door was falling shut behind them. "Do you have to be a _complete_ ass?"

"Hey," Gajeel's gruff voice drew Natsu's attention to where the taller boy sat, back on his bed with his damn guitar in his lap again. Except now Pantherlily was curled up in his unruly black hair. "They're justa bunch of pricks, ignore 'em." Gajeel went back to strumming his black guitar, a -not completely horrible- melody sounding in his throat as he hummed along, Pantherlily purring as well. Natsu looked up at where he had left Happy, the blue cat peeking his head out between the wooden beams that bordered the bed. He let out a gentle meow, Natsu figuring if Happy could make facial expressions he would be making one of concern.

"I'mma go for a walk," Natsu mumbled, head lowered as he swiped his beanie from where Gray had left it on the floor. He walked quickly to his bunk as he pulled his beanie harshly over his head so that it covered his hair again and took out Fev, the strings pushing into his palm as he held it by the neck.

"Don't do nothin' stupid." Gajeel called as Natsu left the cabin, a grunt his only reply as he fled down the porch steps. He had two hours before the camp was meeting for announcements, and he had seen a river on a map of the camp before. He just needed some alone time, maybe sit on the grass and watch the river swim by, oblivious of all the heartbreak and angst of the people that surrounded it. The good thing about the river not caring about him is that it wasn't _supposed_ to, and somehow that comforted Natsu.

Kicking a large pebble Natsu wandered off the gravel path and into the thicker part of trees that was supposed to discourage people from venturing too far. A humorless smile pulled at one corner of his mouth as Natsu thought about how if there was anything he was good at it was playing guitar and disappearing.

* * *

"Small world, huh." Loke questioned as he walked beside Gray, the two boys slowly making there way to the large mess hall beside the outdoor auditorium.

"Too small." he muttered under his breath, ignoring Loke's curious glance. His shoulders were hunched farther forward than usual, the silver pendant his dad had given him swaying gently and banging on his skin as he walked. When the fuck had he lost his shirt? Whatever, he got too hot with it on anyway. Loke's voice brought him out of his glower, head whipping towards the ginger.

"I don't see why you're so pissy about it, honestly Lucy _could_ have picked a worse guy." he said carefully, cautious of Gray's reaction. As he should be, because Gray was one more comment away from breaking his stupid glasses. Bastard didn't even need them.

"You weren't there," he snapped, glare turning to a bottle cap that Gray kicked at harshly. "Lucy was _blind drunk_ and I was supposed to look after her. And what happens? I lose her for five fucking minutes and find her trying to shove her tongue down some guy's throat. A shirtless guy!" he continued to rant, ignoring the odd look his friend was giving him.

"You aren't actually her keeper, y'know?" Loke questioned, jumping back with a yelp as Gray turned to him sharply.

"Yes I am." he hissed, breaking eye contact and looking out the corner of his eye when he saw Loke's eyebrows pinch together in concern and his lips thin. "I don't have the _best_ relationship with Lyon or Ultear, and Lucy's like a sister. Like my favourite sister. She tries to rebel out from under her old man's thumb, and sometimes she pushes herself too far. I need'a watch out for her." he mumbled, hands stuffed roughly into the pockets of his black jeans, silver chain jinggling at the forceful movement.

"If you think Lucy's gonna punch me for flirting with her and _not_ you for talking about her like that you're dumber than you think Natsu is." Loke warned, eyes completely serious as he stared down Gray. The black haired boy lifted his hand and rubbed at the scar on his forehead, letting out a long breath.

"I know, I know. And I _know_ that she is more than capable of looking out for herself and making her own decisions and living with her own mistakes blah blah blah," Gray said, rolling his eyes as he imagined Lucy's furious lecture. "But she's family."

Loke's eyes widened at Gray's statement before he nodded in understanding, starting to walk forward towards where the girls were waiting again.

"Fine, but just don't let Lucy hear you talking like that, got it? I'd rather not take you to the infirmary, even if I feel like both you and Natsu will be constant visitors there anyway," Loke said, mumbling the last part so that Gray couldn't hear him. Gray did anyway, but he chose to ignore it. Loke was his best guy friend, and he didn't really have the energy to fight him right now. What he _wanted_ was a smoke, but Lucy would kill him if she found out he had started again. And the camp forbid it. But Lucy was scarier.

"So what are you going to tell Lucy?"

"What?" Gray asked, confused by Loke's random question. His friend just rolled his eyes and fixed his glasses in annoyance.

"About Natsu, duh." Loke said slowly, eyebrow quirking at Gray's loud snort.

"Nothing."

Loke almost tripped over his feet at Gray's quick dismissal, gaping at the raven haired boy. "You can't _not_ tell her who her first kiss was." he protested, Gray shrugging his shoulder while his fist clenched in his pocket.

"Ain't nothing to tell her, she was drunk so it doesn't count as her first kiss. And didn't you hear what that idiot was saying?" Gray questioned, cruel smirk pulling at his lips. "She already met him and didn't remember him at all. So it's all good."

Loke looked at Gray from the corner of his eyes, disapproval clear in his face. "You sure?" he questioned hesitantly, giving Gray the chance to reconsider. Instead Gray looked him dead in the eye as he pulled the cafeteria door open harshly.

"Definitely."

* * *

 **A/N: We hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as we enjoyed writing it! Please let us know what you think!**

 **\- HN & NJAF**


	3. All The Boys

**Chapter Three: All The Boys**

 _Closer now..._

 _And closer still…_

 _Then it's closer to her_

' _Til she knows you're there_

Lucy leaned against the wooden counter-top attached to the wall, trying to look around inconspicuously as Cana poured a quarter of a bottle of _inappropriate_ liquid into her half full bottle of orange juice, swirling the contents until she was satisfied. Tucking the thin flask back into the pocket of her brown khakis the brunette gave Lucy a playful wink, Lucy rolling her eyes and shoving away the outstretched bottle Cana offered her. She didn't feel like risking getting kicked out of camp on the first day. She looked around the room much more relaxed now, taking in the long rows of clear stained wooden tables and high domed ceilings, all designed for excellent acoustics within the large space.

One never knew when or where an impromptu sing-a-long or rap battle could happen at Fairy Tail.

The single door beside the canteen was pulled open suddenly, the unexpected noise drawing Lucy's attention. Cana had started walking over to where Juvia and Levy sat already, abandoning Lucy as she stared dreamily at the large glass windows on the East and West sides of the building. Lucy's curiosity was piqued when she watched Gray and Loke enter, both agitated and with a growing tension forming between the two guys. She started to walk towards them to greet them, but her brow furrowed as she noticed the two had stopped walking just inside the door and were talking in a conspiratorial hush. Were they arguing? Loke was the first to notice Lucy's approach, and immediately ended whatever fight he had been having with Gray, large smile forced and swagger exaggerated as he walked towards Lucy.

"My Sunshine!" he purred as he slung his arm around Lucy's shoulder, "Seeing you always eases my soul, as though you are the brightest star and I am but a traveller lost at sea."

Lucy shrugged off his arm with an eye-roll, snorting audibly at Loke's dramatic declaration. "Why don't you save that for a girl it might actually work on, that one was pretty good." Lucy teased, any annoyance she might have felt at his statement smoothed over by her good mood carried over from meeting her cabin mates.

"Not as pretty as you, babe." Loke shot back, lips curing in a suggestive smile and face leaning in towards hers. Lucy planted a hand firmly on the side of his face, smushing his cheek and lips as she shoved him away.

"Hey Gray." Lucy greeted as the raven haired boy finally strolled towards where Lucy and Loke stood. He grunted in reply, and Lucy raised an eyebrow as she looked over him. "Forgot something?" she asked innocently, smirking at his annoyed expression. She knew him too well, and she knew that was his I-feel-better-but-don't-want-to-show-it-because-I-never-showed-I-was-upset-in-the-first-place grimace. Stupid emo boy.

"Ha ha," he said sarcastically, bumping her shoulder and giving her a small grin as he passed her to walk in the direction that Cana was waving. Lucy's eyes lit up and she lifted a finger beside her head as she spoke.

"Oh that's right!" she chirped, "We have some new friends I want you guys to meet!"

She grabbed Loke and Gray's wrists, dragging them behind her as she walked quickly to the table where her friends sat. Cana was harassing a bright red Juvia, Levy snickering behind her hand as she watched her cabin mates' antics.

"Guys, meet Juvia and Levy! Girls, this is Loke," Lucy said, releasing her friend's wrist and motioning at him with her hand, "and this is Gray." Lucy yanked on Gray's wrist so he moved from his half hidden spot behind her shoulder to be in full view of the group of girls.

"Definitely Pete meets Edward." Levy said as she looked over Gray, sending Cana and Lucy into a loud fit of snorts and laughter, even Juvia tittering behind a pale hand before she collected herself with a delicate cough. Loke shot them an amused glance while Gray was torn between glaring at Lucy and fighting back a light blush.

"I'm sure Juvia wouldn't mind if Gray got that spread in Rolling Stone." Cana drawled, sending the others into another round of giggles, although Juvia's laugh sounded a little confused. A musical fanatic probably wouldn't understand such a pre-teen 'bad boy' reference.

"Pete meets… hey, do you mean Pete Wentz?" Gray asked in confusion before a spark lit behind his eyes, "Wait, are you talking about 'The Fabulous Life And Secret Torment' interview? In Rolling Stone?"

"Erm." Levy gaped, but it was too late. Gray was spiralling back into middle school. His former self was taking over.

"Issue 1012," Gray continued, eyes wide in wonder as he looked to a fonder past. A past which featured a heavy use of eyeliner. "March 2007. I waited in line for fifteen minutes at the corner store just to buy it. Classic. You know that interview happened like a day before the release of _Infinity On High?_ Man, _iconic._ "

The group stared at him in stunned silence as Gray signed to himself, nodding as if he'd wrote the article himself.

"Juvia thought it was the MCR Gray yearned to be a part of." Juvia frowned in confusion.

"Oh sweetie, if their songs titles have more words than the number of years their fans have lived then he's fantasized about being with them." Cana soothed, patting Juvia's head, the girl in turn nodding in serious understanding.

"But sadly it isn't 2007 anymore, so Gray has to find someone else who understand the consequences of being _deeply misunderstood._ " Loke smirked before turning his attention to Juvia, "Say, how good are you with eyeliner?"

Gray turned a vibrant shade of pink, gritting his teeth to keep from punching Loke at Lucy's pointed look.

"I can do my own eyeliner, thank you very much." He ground out.

The group erupted into laughter. Nearby tables cast them concerned looks.

"Wait! No! That's not what I-" Gray stammered.

"Juvia thinks it is impressive that Gray is so skilled with make-up," Juvia's voice cut through the laughter, "Juvia wishes she had Gray's skill. She can never get the wings even."

"Hey, I'm sure he'll be happy to teach ya Juvy." Cana snickered as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Juvia's face brightened suddenly, Lucy following her gaze and looking in the direction she was waving at, her jaw dropping as she realized _who_ their sweet and innocent friend was drawing towards them. A tall boy who looked like he was already in his third year of university stalked towards them, long black hair wild and intimidating. Well, all of him was intimidating. He was well over 6 foot, maybe pushing 6 and a half, and was barely fitting in his tight black tank top, matched with torn and abused jeans and combat boots. His face was littered with eyebrow and nose piercings, his ears glinting silver when his dark hair shifted around them.

Lucy supposed he could be handsome if it weren't for the fact that his scowl could make flowers die.

He stopped at the edge of the table, eyes shooting to Gray and Loke with mild disgust before he looked at Juvia. "Really, your first time makin' friends and _these_ idiots are the 'chosen ones'?"

Juvia pouted at his bored voice, Lucy balking at the deepness and smoothness of it. "Juvia thinks Gajie is being too rude to her new friends." Juvia chastised, standing from her spot on the bench seat and walking towards her friend, her arms looping around his heavily muscled one so it was crushed to her chest. Lucy tensed as she waited for the boy to jerk his arm back from Juvia. Instead he rolled his eyes, his scowl softening to a grimace when he looked down at her.

"How many times do I hafta tell ya not to call me that?" He questioned dryly, something like amusement or fondness growing in his red eyes as Juvia looked up at him, eyebrows knit as she thought.

"Gajie, Juvia was wondering if you still travelled with your emergency eyeliner?" She ignored his previous question, blinking up at him innocently. 'Gajie' spit out a sharp squawk, cheeks turning a soft pink and eyes glaring down at Juvia. He left his arm in her hold still, though.

"I haven't in years, Rain Woman. And the name's _Gajeel_." he grumbled, Juvia sighing deeply and looking down.

"Now Juvia will be unable to learn Gray's amazing skills."

"Oi!" Gajeel barked, turning a heated glare on Gray as he shifted his arm -and Juvia- closer to him protectively. "The fuck is Juvia goin' on about, Stripper?" he asked menacingly, Gray and Loke swallowing sharply under his deathly look before Gray replaced his mask of indifference and sneered at the other boy.

"Nothing, ' _Gajie_ '." He mocked, Lucy looking between the two in confusion.

"Call me that again and you'd best be sleepin' with one eye open for the next two months." he warned in a low voice. Lucy looked at Cana as she became even more confused, Cana shrugging her shoulders as well.

"Does Gajie know Gray?" Juvia questioned, unaffected by the dangerous aura radiating off of the boy whose arm she was hugging. "Why didn't he tell Juvia he was friends with the MCR models." She pouted, her eyes sparking as Gray choked. "Or did you two meet in the 'pit' Gajie is always texting Juvia about?"

Gajeel sighed heavily and removed one hand from where it was shoved in his pocket, fingerless studded glove resting on top of Juvia's head as he patted her hair. "No, Waterworks, I'm sharing a cabin with Dumb and Dumber here, and my idiot cousin." He explained bluntly.

"You're Dumber." Loke interjected, looking at Gray flatly. Gajeel shot Loke a look, who just raised his hands and slipped into a spot beside Cana. Everyone else settled into the benches so Gajeel was left at the front of the table with Juvia clinging to him. He tensed suddenly when he realized everyone was staring at him, Lucy's skilled eyes -from having to decipher Gray's basically monotonous facial expressions- picking up on the tightness around his lips and shoulders. She smiled at him comfortingly, Gajeel blinking blankly at her. Lucy's smile waned until he looked away, the pink tips of his ears showing through his black mane of hair.

"Yer both morons." Gajeel frowned, recognition flashing in his eyes when Juvia led him to the bench seat beside Levy, who sat at the end of her side of the table. The girl was pointedly stabbing at a piece of lettuce and ignoring the looming boy beside her. Lucy's eyes widened as she watched Gajeel's face crack into a large smirk when he leaned into Levy's personal space. "Almost didn' see ya there Shrimp." he teased, Juvia clapping her hands delightedly on the other side of Gajeel.

Levy looked coolly out of the corner of her eye at Gajeel, whose smirk widened more to reveal pointed canines. Until Levy's fork somehow found it's way into his hand. "Oops." Levy said with false apology, Gajeel rubbing his hand with a wry and impressed glint in his eyes.

The group fell into easy chatter, Loke hitting on Levy and Juvia and failing hard, Juvia staring at Gray in awe before looking away just as Gray looked at her with hidden curiosity, Gajeel remarking on Levy's tiny size just for the blue haired girl to hurt him in some 'accidental' fashion. Lucy couldn't help but beam as she watched her friends, new and old blending seamlessly as they picked at the food on the table.

"Decided not to go sulk by the river like a pussy?" Gajeel asked suddenly, grinning over Lucy's shoulder where an unamused snort sounded.

"Fev's string broke as I was walking over. Got your text and decided food wouldn't be a shitty substitute." Lucy looked over her shoulder at the boy who was talking, recognizing him as the stranger from before. His dark beanie still covered his hair, green eyes twinkling with mischievousness as he countered Gajeel's comment effortlessly.

Lucy looked away as she felt a flutter in her stomach. Maybe camp food didn't agree with her.

"Who's this cutie?" Cana interrupted, eyeing the boy behind Lucy as she took a swig from her 'orange juice'. She smiled coyly, leaning forward and pushing her cleavage together. Lucy rolled her eyes and chased a chickpea around her plate before pushing her fork into it violently. So what if Cana was looking for a new fling this summer, it was none of Lucy's business that the cute guy behind her had caught her friend's attention. Even though he had talked to _her_ first...

"O-oh umm," she heard behind her, Lucy lowering her head and glaring at the half of the chickpea that had flown from her fork. So what if his nervous and flustered voice sounded even cuter than his confident one. She looked over her shoulder again, head turning without permission. Her expression lightened considerably when she saw his uncomfortable look, eyes wide and looking at Gajeel for help. Not that Lucy cared that he wasn't interested in Cana. Because that would be petty. And Lucy was a good friend. Yes. And good friends encouraged one another to try and kiss cute people. Wait, _kiss_?

"Natsu! Juvia is glad to see you again! Are you still hallucinating about your girlfriend in the shower?" Juvia asked brightly, eyebrows pinching in concern as she finished speaking. Natsu made a high noise as his face turned bright red while all three boys at the table burst into loud and raucous laughter. "Gajie was quite concerned for his cousin's mental health." She continued, pouting as she looked around the table. "Natsu's mental illness is no laughing matter." She mumbled to herself, Lucy looking at Natsu critically and taking pity on him when she noticed his clenched fists and raised shoulders.

She couldn't help the giggle that bubbled in her throat when Natsu looked at her, his eyes bright and clear and captivating Lucy. She didn't think she had ever seen such a pretty green before. He looked away quickly, hands stuffed in the pockets of his open, faded-red hoodie. She smiled when she recognized the band name on the shirt under it, opening her mouth to ask him about it when she was cut off.

"Really? _Jimmy Eat World?_ " Gray sneered, Lucy looking at him in shock. "I bet you just _love_ the song The Middle, don't you?"

Lucy narrowed her eyes at his condescending tone, looking up at Natsu when he made a low 'tch' sound. "You think you're so great, I bet you tell everyone you were kissin' the Way brothers asses before Welcome To The Black Parade because everyone hasta know you were ' _tragic'_ before it was cool." Natsu shot back, lip curled up and eyes hard as he looked at Gray. Lucy had to clap a hand over her mouth to stop from snorting, Natsu looking at her in surprise at the sound. His expression softened and he grinned crookedly at her, Lucy struggling to compose herself again.

"Well I like Jimmy Eat World. And The Middle is _my_ favourite song." Lucy said pointedly, holding Gray's cold stare until he looked at the table and stole one of Cana's fries. She held her hand up to Natsu and smiled her most friendly smile. "My name's Lucy, but you already knew that," she said teasingly. Natsu blushed and tugged at the white scarf wrapped loosely around his neck before taking her hand and giving it a firm shake, his skin warm and rough against Lucy's.

"I'm um, Natsu. And I don't have a girlfriend!" Natsu rushed out, eyes widening in horror when he realized what he had said. Lucy giggled again. Natsu relaxed and grinned at her laugh, his look melting and making Lucy blush the longer they stared at one another. Both jumped apart when Cana cleared her throat, Lucy laughing nervously and Natsu scratching the back of his head as they tore their hands from the other's. Lucy stuck her tongue out at Cana's raised eyebrow and approving smirk. Gray glared harder at Cana's fries and Lucy worried they might actually freeze over.

"What happened to your stupid sweater?" Gray asked coldly, Natsu's mouth twisting as he faced him.

"I _fixed_ the thermostat, so now I don't have to worry about freezin' my fucking dic-" he grinned victoriously, stuttering as he looked at Lucy again, mouth frozen mid word.

Loke and Gajeel both groaned loudly to themselves, Lucy looking between Natsu and Gray at the obvious inside argument.

"Fucking overgrown lizard." Gray hissed, Natsu looking away from Lucy once again.

"Ice Princess. You gonna sing Let It Go at karaoke or something?"

Cana burst into loud laughter, thumping Gray on the back as she howled. Gray was thoroughly unimpressed.

"Well at least I don't go garbage diving for all my clothes." Gray smirked, looking Natsu up and down condescendingly. Natsu tensed again, eyes narrowed as he growled back.

"Like you even _wear_ clothes you perverted stripper."

"Really, watch who you're calling perverted you fucking mol-"

" _Enough._ " Gajeel said suddenly, Gray biting his tongue at the warning tone. The table sat in awkward silence for a few seconds before Lucy was reminded of her growing anger at Gray when he made a face at Natsu.

"Well I think his clothes suit him," she mumbled defensively, looking at her platter and stabbing another innocent chickpea. "There's no need to be so rude." She looked up at Gray when she heard a dry snort, Lucy's lips twisting down at his cruel smirk.

"Yeah, 'cus he's trash too."

"Gray Fullbuster that is _it._ You are acting like such a pretentious asshole right now and I don't care what you two are fighting about but Juvia is our friend and he is Juvia's friend _so you will be nice to our new friend_." Lucy seethed, Gray flinching back and lower lip puffing out by a fraction, looking back at the fries as he stole yet another. Lucy rolled her eyes. Great, now Gray was pouting.

"And _you_." She turned to Natsu, who also flinched back under the remainder of her glare. "Stop encouraging him."

"Aye sir."

Lucy blinked at his quick reply, shaking her head with a sigh as she looked away. She met Gajeel's impressed look before looking at Cana, who was tugging on Gray's ear and whispering something harshly to him that was making Gray pale more than usual. Levy and Juvia wore matching looks of concern. Loke just looked bored.

"Why don'tcha take a seat there Flame Head," Gajeel offered gruffly, Natsu looking around the table and finally eyeing the only available spot beside Lucy. He looked at Gray, a sort of unspoken conversation happening between the two for some reason before giving a small smile.

"I think I'll just head back to the cabin with a sandwich or something, I don't wanna be any more trouble..." He excused, smile becoming strained as he shoved his hands back into his pockets.

"You're not any trouble Natsu," Lucy said firmly, speaking over Gray's unintelligible murmur. Ass.

"Nah, I gotta go check on Lily and Happy anyway." He took another step back, Lucy looking up at him and ignoring Loke's comment on 'devil spawn'.

"Sit." She ordered, but Natsu remained standing awkwardly, pulling nervously at the sleeves of his hoodie.

"C-Can I erm, go get some food first?" He stammered.

"Oh, of course!" Lucy blushed, realising she may have come across as a little bossy, "Help yourself! We'll still be here when you come back!"

Natsu looked as though he were doubtful of that fact, but he nodded anyway before shuffling away. Lucy watched him go, shoulders hunched and hands stuffed into the pocket of his ripped jeans as though he were trying not to draw attention to himself.

"Wow Lu, eager much?" Cana's snicker drew Lucy's attention back to the table.

"It's not like that!" Lucy flushed, "I just- he… seems kind of familiar is all."

Her mind flitted back to earlier, when she'd bumped into him on her way out of the auditorium. The way he'd looked at her… and he said her name like it was a prayer. Even remembering it sent shivers down her spine. She wondered again how he'd known her name before she told it to him.

"Didn't you do volunteer work with that special needs school last year?" Gray pondered, frowning when he received a slap to the wrist from Cana as he was caught stealing another of her fries, "Maybe he was a student there and that's where you remember him from."

" _What is your problem?_ " Lucy hissed, kicking his shin under the table. His answering yelp of pain was grossly exaggerated, "Why do you hate him so much? You've only known him for a few hours."

"Gray's just a little worried that Natsu's desired cabin temperature will thaw his frozen heart." Loke mused as he closely inspected the piece of lettuce impaled on his fork, "Or, y'know, that Natsu is hot enough to do it himself."

Gray looked more horrified than he had when he and Lucy had watched The Human Centipede on Halloween last year at Loke's words. Their orange haired friend simply shoved his fork in his mouth, the lettuce having passed his inspection. Loke finally caught Gray's look and flashed him a green-flecked grin.

"Juvia wishes she could thaw Gray's frozen heart." Juvia pouted from beside Gajeel.

"My heart isn't frozen," Gray scowled, "And you're way hotter than Natsu."

Juvia squeaked as Gray's face turned as red as the tomatoes in Loke's salad. Cana and Lucy shared a look of delighted surprise while Gajeel and Levy looked a mix of amused and uncomfortable. Gajeel holding majority of the latter in his expression, as Lucy no doubt suspected he was losing circulation in his arm by now.

* * *

Natsu took a deep breath as he walked back to the table, eyebrows knitting as he joined mid sentence.

"Who's hotter than me?" Natsu questioned, adopting his previous stance of standing awkwardly by the table, this time with a tray stacked with food.

"No one!" Lucy blurted, the same time Gray drawled ' _Everyone'._

Natsu stood there chuckling nervously as he glanced at everyone seated, avoiding Lucy's eyes for fear his face would literally catch on fire. There was an awkward moment of silence during which Juvia- still attached to Gajeel's arm- narrowed her eyes at him and hissed something that sounded distinctly like ' _Love Rival'._

When his eyes finally met Lucy's once more, she smiled at him brightly and patted the space beside her. Natsu gulped, mustering his courage as his sat down.

 _Don't be weird, don't be weird, don't be weird,_ rang through his head like a mantra.

He sat in silence, nervously poking at his food. Gajeel always told him he was a monster when he ate. He figured a sweet girl like Lucy wouldn't want to see something so… _uncouth._ That's what Grandine had called it right? Something about no manners. He was too nervous to eat anyway.

He dared a glance at her out the corner of his eye. He couldn't believe this was real. That he was sitting _right next to her_. At _Fairy Tail_. Maybe he'd have the best summer of his life and during the final performance the beat of the song would turn into the steady thrum of one of those hospital machines, and really he'd just been in a coma the whole time. That seemed a whole lot more likely than finding her again and her _actually_ liking him.

He chanced another look, just to make sure she was still there. Green eyes met brown. Natsu quickly looked away.

"Can I ask you a question?" Lucy turned to him, setting her fork down and pushing her plate away.

Natsu sat up straighter, keenly aware of her focus on him. He pushed his own plate away despite having yet to eat one bite.

"Sure." He offered her a weak smile.

 _Don't be weird, don't be weird, don't be weird._

This was it. He was going to have an actual conversation with her. Not an imagined one. He hadn't had the heart to tell her he'd already known her name when she'd offered her hand earlier. She _knew_ he already knew her name. Oh god, what if she thought he was a stalker or something? Girls like her probably had their fair share of stalkers. Oh god oh god oh god, what had that icy bastard told her while he'd been in the lunch line? What if she didn't even _remember_ bumping into him before. She didn't remember making out with him, why would she remember him gaping at her? Oh god he didn't think he could take her forgetting him twice-

"Are you alright?" Lucy frowned at him.

"W-Was that the question?"

"No," A furrow appeared between her brows as she leaned a little closer to him, "You've just gone awfully pale all of a sudden..."

He was dimly aware of Gray and Loke snickering in the background, but for the most part the sound was drowned out by the ringing of his pulse in his ears.

This was it. This was what a heart attack felt like.

"Ah yes," A skimpily clad brunette sitting two down from Lucy leaned across the table to nod at him in deep understanding, "That was my exact face when I first got a stellar view of the twin peaks."

Natsu's mind groped for understanding until the brunette made a honking motion with her hands in front of her own chest. Natsu looked back to Lucy in confusion, then his eyes moved of their own accord.

It was just for a split second, but when his eyes found hers again he knew. He _knew_ that she knew. They both leaned back slightly, cheeks blazing pink. He was dead. His heart attack had killed him and now he was in hell. Pure, mortifying, hell.

Lucy shielded her chest before whirling on her friends.

"Cana!" She screamed, "What have I told you about-"

But Natsu didn't hear the rest of Lucy's protests as he felt a jolt go through the table, his tray of food moving away from him with the force. He looked up to find Gray twisting the handle of his fork, working it deeper into the wood of the table as he glared at him.

"You're dead," Gray seethed, his words uttered in a quiet but deadly calm. Natsu heard them loud and clear even over Lucy's shouting, "You so much as _look_ at-"

"Gray please," Loke sighed from between the still yelling Lucy and Cana, "When they're _that nice_ you can't blame a man for peeking."

"Loke!" Lucy and Gray yelled in unison.

"Juvia knew chivalry wasn't dead." Juvia sighed dreamily, "Gray is a true gentleman."

"How can he be a gentleman when he's not even wearing a shirt!" Natsu protested.

"You say that like I don't threaten guys who look at you all the time." Gajeel frowned at Juvia, who finally let go of his arm to rest her chin in her hands and stare dreamily into the distance.

"Juvia wishes Gray was _her_ protector."

This spurred another round of protests from Lucy, who insisted Gray was _not_ her protecter. Gajeel expressed his disbelief on Juvia's deaf ears, claiming the girl was ungrateful. Cana and Loke were placing bets on which of Lucy's assets would distract Natsu next, while Natsu demanded to know why Gray was willing to murder him for _glancing_ \- which he stated, many times, was unintentional- at Lucy's chest while others were freely allowed to discuss it in depth.

The ruckus of their table drew many curious stares, all of which Levy noticed as she watched the mess unfold before her.

"You're crazy." She whispered to herself, "All my new friends are crazy."

Their whole table became so engrossed in their arguing that they didn't notice the steady rise of their 'indoor voices' or the red-head stepping up to the announcer's podium on the other side of the room.

"SILENCE."

The voice roared over the speaker, stopping not just their table but all the others dead. Lucy's stomach filled with dread as everyone's eyes turned to the redhead behind the podium, only to find that she was glaring directly at their table.

"Shit." Lucy heard Gajeel whisper.

This was promptly followed by Natsu.

" _Shit shit shit shit shit._ " He whispered to himself.

Lucy turned towards him to find him hurrying out of his seat, his green eyes wide with fear and never leaving the podium. She followed his gaze to find not only the red haired girl making her way towards their table, but Gajeel practically crushing Levy -who was frozen in place in fear- in his attempt to flee his seat.

The moment Gajeel was free he ran, head ducked as he darted through the tables as though that would do anything to hide his bulky six foot and heavily pierced frame. She turned back to find Natsu crouched by the table ready to flee. He seemed to be hesitating.

He held his hand out to her cautiously.

"Come with me if you want to live." He whispered dramatically.

Lucy barely had time to squint at him in confusion before Natsu squeaked- actually _squeaked_ \- in fear and scuttled away.

When she turned back to the table, her friends shared her look of immense confusion. Levy was staring down at the table, avoiding any and all eye contact.

Gray shrugged the expression off with a roll of his eyes.

"Pussies." He snorted in amusement.

A shadow fell over their table.

" _Disgusting._ " The red haired girl scowled as she stood at the head of their table. "You. What is your name?"

She pointed a finger at Gray, who swallowed nervously. He was trying not to look scared, but Lucy could see right through him. The poor boy was terrified.

Lucy didn't blame him. Intimidation was practically rolling off this girl in waves. She seemed a little older than the rest of them. Her stance was powerful, chest sticking out slightly as though to show off the Fairy Tail logo on the breast of her t-shirt off with pride. Lucy gulped as she read the words _Camp Enforcer_ embroided there.

"G-Gray Fullbuster?" Gray answered in a timid voice.

"You don't seem very sure about that." The girl narrowed her eyes at him. Lucy watched her carefully as the girls head shot up and looked around the room. "Natsu! Gajeel! Don't think I don't hear you _snickering_ out there. I _will_ find you!"

Lucy heard a distant crash near the back entrance accompanied by shouts of ' _Save your own ass Flame Brains!_ ' from what she assumed was her new friends mad dash for freedom. She was suddenly very glad she'd stayed as the redhead's eyes blazed with anger. The consequences seemed worse for running.

"As for you," She addressed Gray again, "Do you always use such vulgar language when there are _children_ present?"

"Ah- I- Erm-" Gray stammered.

His chest was heaving and he was beginning to sweat. Lucy and Loke shared a worried look. Gray looked like he was on the verge of an asthma attack, even though he hadn't had one in over eight years. Lucy still carried an inhaler with her, just in case, but it was back in her cabin.

The first call to the Camp Paramedics were postponed however, when Juvia unleashed the full force of her smile.

"Erza!" She beamed, "Juvia is so happy to see you!"

The redhead- Erza- turned her gaze to Juvia. Her anger seemed to dissipate somewhat at the joy in Juvia's smile.

"Juvia," Erza greeted with a nod, "I'm glad to see you've made some friends. Albeit disrupting ones."

"We're very sorry about that ma'am!" Lucy pipped up, seizing the chance to get into the 'Camp Enforcers' good books, "It won't happen again."

"I can assure you it won't," Erza smiled pleasantly, "Not after I catch those two _swine._ Nice to see you as well Levy."

Without any further chit-chat, Erza went on her merry way. Lucy could have sworn there was a skip in her step as she went off in the direction Natsu and Gajeel had fled.

"I could have died," Gray wheezed with a hand to his chest, "I should be dead."

"You're so dramatic," Cana drawled, "Juvia would have given you mouth to mouth, there was never any danger."

"Would Gray like some CPR?" Juvia questioned the dark haired boy eagerly, shuffling a little closer to him.

"Erm, I can breathe just fine on my own, thank you." Gray cringed a little as Juvia wrapped her arms around his.

"Juvia can't." She sighed as she rested her chin on Gray's shoulder, "Gray takes Juvia's breath away."

The rest of the table made gagging noises, but Loke looked impressed.

"Damn," The orange haired boy muttered beside Lucy, "That one was smooth."

A sharp staticky sound filled the room, drawing all eyes back to the podium at the front of the cafeteria. As sudden as the noise had been it was cut off, unintelligible frustrated mutterings and curses coming from the seemingly empty stand. Lucy watched as two bells came into view, attached to the ends of a purple and orange stripped court jesters hat -Lucy assumed that's what it was supposed to be anyway. More agitated murmurs floated through the air until finally the head of the camp director Makarov popped into place.

"Listen up brats," he began, white moustache twitching in a scowl as he eyed the direction Erza had walked -skipped- off in. His expression softened to a wry smile when he looked around the room and at the expressions of the teenagers around him. "So here we are, yet another start to Camp Fairy Tail.

"I just want to wish everyone an unofficial and Fairy Tail welcome, and I hoped all you youngsters enjoyed our opening ceremony, courtesy of our very own Gildarts Clive." A small round of applause scattered through the campers, Lucy smiling at Makarov's warm grin at the sound. "Yes, an amazing force of Fairy Tail when he remembers to come back home from his tours. Oh shut up you know it's true you walking wrecking ball." Cana snorted as the hushed sounds of Makarov bickering with her father came through the microphone, giving a small wave when Gildarts beamed over and swung his arm through the air in exaggerated motions.

Makarov released a heavy sigh, muttering under his breath before he forced a large smile on his face and continued speaking.

"As all of our returning family know, the first week is a settling in week. The camp directors and I want to let all you brats get used to the layout and the independence of the camp, as well as to meet some of your fellow campers.

"This year's week themes will be posted by the end of the day today and the pairings for the first week will be picked by the councillors, both from your submitted bio's and from our watching you interact. Most pairings will stay within the age groups, but sometimes we like to see one of our older children mentor the younger ones. There will also be a karaoke night one of these evenings, please see our lovely Mira Jane for more details." Makarov scratched the side of his head, eyes closed and brows knitted in thought. Lucy snuck a glance at Cana and Loke, the only two in the original group who had been here previously -granted it had been years ago. Both were smiling fondly as they looked up at the podium, Makarov still capturing their attention like a grandfather who was telling the same story about walking up the hill both ways before handing out a piece of candy. Or a beer, in Cana's case.

A loud crash and a high pitched wail came from outside the cafeteria, followed by what Lucy assumed was a war cry. Makarov's eyes opened tiredly and his shoulders drooped, Lucy thinking she saw the phrase 'I'm too old for this' mouthed by the old man.

"And a last reminder. There is _no camp enforcer_ at Fairy Tail. Just a very, _very_ , passionate young woman who could quite possibly kill a bear. Good luck!" And with that note his head disappeared behind the podium again, an eerie silence falling over the campers in the seconds following.

Lucy grinned worriedly as she made eye contact with Juvia. Well, that was _one_ way to start off the summer.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you guys enjoy our portrayal of Gray because he is literally me when I was in my early teens. Eyeliner included. Hope you guys are enjoying this fic so far! Don't hesitate to leave a review, we love to hear from you!**

 **\- HN & NJAF**


	4. Stuck In The Middle

**Chapter Four: Stuck In The Middle**

 _'Cause_

 _Someday things will be perfect_

 _It will be worth it all this time_

 _Stuck in the middle_

Natsu let the ice pack fall onto the bed. His cheek still hurt like a bitch, but at least it wasn't throbbing anymore. Fuck, he had almost forgotten how strong Erza was. Natsu snorted as he thought about how he should have one of those 'certain number of days since last incident' posters in their cabin. Actually, it would be a miracle if they even got to day 1 on that thing. Gajeel glared at him, split lip and a light bruise on his cheek showing Erza had punished him as much as she had Natsu.

"Would ya quite makin' all that fuckin' noise?"

"I snorted." Natsu defended sourly.

"And now yer talkin'." Gajeel snarled back.

"Go fuck yourself Gear Head." Natsu grumbled, jumping down from his bunk without the help of the ladder. He stood from his slight crouch, whipping a pillow he stole from Gray's bunk at Gajeel, who in turn batted it away with the back of his hand to where it landed in a cobwebbed corner. What a shame.

"If yer headin' out try not and stalk Bunny Girl, got it? Me and Lily don't need to hafta keep separating you and Ice Tits. Also don't need to explain to yer old man why you sent a kid to the hospital in yer first week of camp." Gajeel didn't bother looking at Natsu as he spoke, instead scribbling in his notebook that he liked to hide under his mattress.

"Thinking that hard won't help your headache." Natsu commented, grinning at the low snarl his cousin gave him and the distracted bird he was flipped. "And you might wanna try that in G minor rather than A major. It'll get that 'secretly happy' sound instead of 'obviously happy' that you're allergic to."

Gajeel grunted in response, Natsu rolling his eyes when he heard rushed erasing and rewriting.

"And let me know if you need any help with words that rhyme with shortie."

"Fuck off Strawberry."

Natsu ducked out the screen door, snorting at the loud 'thump' that signalled that Gajeel had thrown something at his back. And missed.

He fought back a small grin as he slipped in his ear phones. He knew for a fact that Gajeel had a pretty deadly aim when he wanted to. As much as he and Gajeel fought, at least he knew his jackass of a cousin would be in his corner. And Happy too for that matter, but Natsu could always rely on his little friend.

Natsu thumbed through his playlists on his old iPod, the silver back scratched to shit and the generation so old it no longer updated. Natsu had gotten this for his eighth birthday, Igneel having saved up for the surprise for months. Natsu settled on the playlist titled 'Life is Stupid' humming along as the opening bars of _The Anthem_ by Good Charlotte blasted in his ears.

He walked slowly as he followed the gravel path from the cabin area to the main camp, letting his mind drift off into fantasies of talking to Lucy. He became more depressed as each time it ended in Lucy running away in disgust as she remembered him, not even able to pretend in his own mind that _she_ would want _him_. Wasn't that just fucking pathetic.

Natsu groaned and kicked at a stone in front of him, sending it skipping through the grass beside the trail and into a bush. She had called him her friend, though, so that meant she didn't hate him, right? Or had she just been yelling at Gray? Natsu had to admit, it was stupidly easy to yell at Mr. My Face Begs To Be Punched.

Dragging his hand along his face Natsu clicked the the skip button attached to his headphones until heavy drums flooded his brain, over bearing as it drowned out his own thoughts. He absently fixed his dark grey beanie covering his stupid hair. This was fine. Natsu was fine. Lucy didn't need to know, and if she didn't know, she couldn't laugh in his face. Natsu kicked a larger pebble, sending it arcing through the air and rolling along the path a few feet in front of him. Lucy was too sweet to laugh at him, but she could still reject him. A cold pit lodged itself in his gut, similar to the time that he had been cornered by his teacher and forced to read from the stupid play book in English class.

Natsu still had nightmares.

The song faded out, Natsu barely registering the change as he walked past the climbing wall. While Fairy Tail was a music camp, they did offer some traditional activities for their campers such as lake sports, archery, and the 30 foot tall climbing wall, to name a few. The camp had other activities, but Natsu's focus drifted as he caught sight of the mess hall. The two story building was made entirely out of giant wood logs, large glass windows breaking up the light brown colour all around the building. While the roof was domed inside for acoustics, the camp had kept up with the outdoorsy aesthetic and the outside was a mess of sharp angles and triangles for the roof and over each window.

It had been like this for as long as Natsu could remember, and he felt a part of his anxiety wash away at the familiar sight. It was nice to know that somethings would never change, Fairy Tail being one of them.

He debated grabbing a cinnamon swirl cookie -a signature of the camp- but chose not to, continuing on his path. Natsu passed groups of kids walking by, laughing and talking and being more social than Natsu felt up to. He kept his chin up, though, confidence leaking into him by being surrounded by the comforting sights and smells. Fairy Tail was basically a second home for him, and he was _good_ at what he did here.

Natsu drummed his fingers along his stomach in time with a guitar riff, hands inside the large center pocket of the hoodie he had thrown on before leaving. He finally passed the second largest building at camp, making his way along the path that led towards the largest one, the open faced stage where they would perform at the end of each week. Natsu closed his eyes as he remembered the feeling of standing on the stage, heart pounding along with the heavy drum beat, fingertips almost numb from the strings on his guitar as he performed. Light flashed in his mind, the roar of the crowd overwhelming and euphoric at the same time.

He was going to sing this year, Natsu decided as he opened his eyes. No more playing guitar in the background. Besides, there was no going back now; Natsu had already checked off the 'singer' box alongside 'guitarist' when sending his application in the winter.

God, Natsu was going to puke.

His palms became clammy as he thought of standing center stage, a weird mix of nausea and excitement that had Natsu thankful he hadn't wasted any of his food allowance on that cookie.

Natsu paused as he passed the break in the trees that led to the field in front of the auditorium stage, his feet moving him without permission. Before he knew it he was standing in the open area where everyone had gathered before for the welcoming ceremony, the space far more intimidating and surreal without the masses of campers and staff filling in the wood bench risers.

His iPod switched songs again, Natsu singing along more passionately now that he was alone.

" _Condemned to be forever unable,_

 _To give this stupid thing the time that it deserves,_

 _I heard a proud few when the windows were gone,_

 _All singing the same time to separate songs."_

Natsu tilted his head back as he sang at the clear sky, sun warm as it bore down on him. His voice carried through the empty clearing. Natsu got to the skirt of the stage, his voice becoming strained as he hauled himself up with his arms. He rested on his knees, feet hanging off the stage as he looked it over.

Aged but polished metal followed the curving ceiling to the centre point 30 feet in the air, braces for the booms mounted against them and wires wrapping through the metal lattices until they reached the bars at the every third of the dome. The space between the start of the roof and the stage itself was just tall enough for a person over Gajeel's height to walk through, greenery of the forest peaking through the mess of metals and wires and sound equipment. Natsu ran a hand over the rough wooden stage floor, taking in the feel of it. How many people had performed here, found their love and passion for music on this stage?

He stood, wandering to the center of 20 by 16 foot platform. He turned in a tight circle, breathing in the fresh air with a deep inhale. Natsu's eyes fell shut as he relived last year's final performance, the lights and the crowd in his mind shifting to what he imagined performing at a rock concert would be, adrenaline pounding and the music burning in his soul. His hands pantomimed holding Fev, fingers tracing the cords from memory in the air as he played along to the music blasting in his ears.

As the music faded out he raised his hands in the hair, basking in the echo of the applause of his memories. He remembered looking out into the cheering crowd, that feeling of utter elation building and building with the volume of the cheers, and the pride in the faces of Erza and Makarov and Gildarts and… that one empty chair.

Natsu dropped his arms as though his puppet strings had finally been cut loose. Another song began in his ears, but he ripped earbuds out before the words even started. He stared at that spot, row f, seat 14. Empty now and empty then. No matter how much the crowd screamed, how good could he possibly be if his own father couldn't spare the time to come see him play?

He knew it was stupid. Igneel had been out saving lives, why _should_ he stop to hear a cover of a song he'd already heard a hundred times. His work was much more important, and Natsu understood that. Igneel has promised he would get the day off too come see his performance at the final ceremony this year, so he'd just have to make it so amazing that last years didn't even bare to think about. Natsu clenched his fist around his ipod. He could do it, he could find the perfect song.

But still, the task was daunting.

Frustrated with his own self doubt, Natsu jammed his headphones back in his ears and flicked through his iPod until he found the perfect motivational song. Something to burn his self doubt into shreds. He debated _Work Bitch-_ but then skipped it for shame of hiding Britney under 'Unknown Artist' should someone ever browse his most treasured possession- before eventually settling on a song that was 75% certain to make Gajeel disown him if he ever found out he listening to something so not-death-metal-ish.

He pressed play, turned the volume to its fullest and took as deep breath as the intro kicked in. A thought struck him and he dashed to the side of the stage, desperate to find the necessary props for this once in a lifetime solo performance before the vocals kicked in. He grabbed a mic stand someone had been generous enough to leave an unplugged mic in and rushed back to centre stage. He had a second to compose himself before he took the mic in his right hand and shoved his iPod in his back pocket, leaving his other hand free to perform Dramatic Emotive Gestures.

" _I don't remember the morning I tried to forget,_

 _I lost myself and it's better not said_

 _Now I'm closer, to, the edge,"_

Natsu pointed at that empty fucking chair with all the grace of 2009 Jared Leto he could muster. He imaged the camera right by his face, the lights, the crowd, the band behind him. He gritted his teeth as he sang for full scale emotional intensity.

" _It was a thousand to one and a million to two_

 _Time to go down in flames and i'm taking you_

 _Closer. To. The. Edge."_

He fully enunciated every word as though he'd never once stuttered speaking to a stranger or a pretty blonde girl. As though this was _his_ stage and _his_ song and he _fucking owned this._

" _No I'm not saaaaaaaaying, I'm soooooooorry,_

 _One day, maybe we'll meet again."_

He screamed the words into the mic because _they did_ they _**did**_ meet again and he wasn't sorry for that not one bit and by god he wasn't going to mess it up this time. He ripped the mic from the stand as he finished the chorus, kicking the stand away in the process so he was unhindered as the next verse began and he stepped forward calmly to sing about dreams and music and falling and getting back up and _fuck he loved this song Gajeel be damned._

He punched his fist into the air with every _no_ he sung into the mic. He closed his eyes and for a second he was _there._ The crowd was there with him, punching their fists into the air in time with his own. His through was tingling as he held the note and he could feel the heat of the lights on him as he plucked at his imaginary guitar strings during the bridge. By the time the song came to the close he finally opened his eyes and he could tell his voice was hoarse as the song finished.

" _Closer to, the edge."_

Natsu laughed to himself as he whipped the sweat from his brow and removed his headphones… to the sound of applause.

A single applause. Natsu looked up in horror to find the scantily clad brunette from earlier that had groped Lucy's… that had groped Lucy. Cana.

"Hhhooo boy!" She shouted from her seat in the back row, "Well, _damn._ I sure am on the edge of somethin'!"

Even from this distance Natsu spotted her wink. For the second time in a hour, he was sure he was gonna puke.

* * *

Gajeel lifted his eyes from the ninth thick line of crossed out lyrics, cocking his head to the side as he listened. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn that was his dumbass cousin's voice faintly forcing its way into his cabin.

Had Natsu gotten his hands on a fucking megaphone?

Gajeel closed his eyes, concentrating on what the hell the words were supposed to be. No way...

Gajeel was going to get his hands on Natsu's iPod and delete everything pre 2010, that boy needed to stop living in his emo past. And he said _Gajeel_ had bad taste in music.

"Yer owner's such a fuckwit he probably doesn't even know the mics on." Gajeel said to the bundle of blue fur curled into the crook of his knee. Happy lifted his head and blinked at Gajeel slowly, meowing loudly before tucking back into a fuzzy ball. "Ya get me." He nodded to himself, rubbing a knuckle between Happy's ears fondly, the small cat's low purr sparking the cat resting on Gajeel's head to begin to purr as well.

With a low curse Gajeel turned his attention back to the pad of paper in front of him. He couldn't even get a measly _line_ down, and he was getting close to just digging through Gray's bags for a lighter and setting the entire fucking building on fire. Notebook included.

He'd save the instruments.

Probably.

Probably not his roommates though.

Gajeel settled for whipping the pencil across the room, sticking lead first between the paneling. Gajeel nodded to himself. _Metal as fuck._

Panther Lily meowed in approval.

Happy didn't care. But Gajeel couldn't blame the cat, he probably had brain damage from listening to Natsu blubber over Lucy for months.

Gajeel pulled another pencil from behind his ear, two others pushed into the knot he had put his hair in to get it out of his face. He bit sharply on the end, pencil eraser gone so all he got was the sharp tang of metal and the satisfying crunch of the fake wood.

Maybe that was where his writer's block was coming from. Natsu had been getting his inspiration from love and flowers and other _disgusting_ things so where was he, a true artist with an aversion to love songs, meant to gleam some ideas from? The sky?

 _Oh the sky looks so blue,_ he thought, _just like your hair. The sun is her headband._

Gajeel sat up straight. No. This would not do. If he started singing about love- an emotion which he had never, for the record, experienced ever- what would he starting singing about next? Laughter? Friendship? The joy of learning?

Yeah fucking right.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. This was just a classic case of Overexposure. To Natsu, that is. That moron was so lovey-dovey Gajeel wouldn't be surprised if he woke in the night to find the hothead kissing his pillow. No, he had to distance himself so that his symptoms wouldn't worsen. No doubt the idiot would be on his way back any moment now once he'd realised the true scale of his embarrassment.

Gajeel decided to take a walk and stay clear of the drama.

He untangled Lily from his head, holding the black cat in one hand as he scooped the blue one in his other hand. Both meowed in complaint of being moved, limp in his hands as he stood from the bed. He rolled his eyes when he watched them snuggle deeper into the pillow he placed them on, Happy crawling on top of Lily before falling back asleep.

If Gajeel was less of a badass he'd call them cute. But he wasn't, so he shoved his notepad under the thin mattress, grabbed his noise canceling headphones, slung them around his neck as he grabbed his phone and threw open the front door to the cabin.

He was stopped from fully exiting, however, when he bumped into something. He looked around, confused as to what had blocked him.

"Oh um, hello," a light voice said. Gajeel narrowed his eyes at empty space in front of his face. It was like if he _thought_ about her she just _appeared._

"Whatcha want, Shrimp?" Gajeel asked, feeling his lips crack into an unauthorized smile as he looked down. Levy pouted at the -very clever, Gajeel thought- nickname, hands fisting on her hips.

"I have a _name_ you know." She said pointedly, glaring at Gajeel as she leaned forward. Heh, it was cute how she tried to intimidate him.

Wait.

No. She wasn't _cute_. Gajeel didn't think _anything_ was _cute_.

"Yeah. Yer name's 'Shrimp'." Gajeel smirked, patting a hand on her head. Shit, she barely reached his ribcage when he flattened her hair. But damn if it didn't feel soft against his fingers.

"You're messing up my hair!" Levy complained, swatting at his hand. Gajeel it took back with a shrug, grin widening when she muttered as she fixed her bright yellow headband, the colour loud against her bright blue hair. Gajeel wondered if she dyed it. "Dummy."

"So what brings ya callin'? Need someone to lift you to reach the high shelf?" He teased. She blushed in irritation, huffing as Levy tried to think of a come back.

" _No_." She said, pausing again as she bit her lip. "I was looking for Lucy, and I thought she might be with Gray and Loke. But it looks like they're not here."

"Well why the hell am I 'posed to know where those idiots are?" Gajeel questioned, a heavy stone sitting in his gut at Levy's disappointed face, her frail shoulders dropping.

"We were supposed to go explore the camp together." Levy said, voice almost a nasally whine. She gave another heavy sigh, slipping her hands into the pockets of her shorts, white cloth peaking out from the short cargo coloured pants. Gajeel thought it was pretty stupid that her pockets were longer than her actual shorts, but he also wasn't about to tell that to Levy;s face when he could get an eyeful of thigh. Not that Gajeel was looking. Because he wasn't.

He _wasn't._

"Well if ya promise to not bug me too much I can give you a tour 'till we find Bunny Girl." Gajeel grunted, shifting awkwardly on his feet. Why had he done that? The whole point of leaving the cabin was to _not_ think about pretty girls.

Holy fuck he was going to fucking kill Natsu with one of the strings from that stupid red guitar.

"What?" Levy asked, brown eyes wide like a doe's. Gajeel grunted again, walking past her and down the path.

"It was just a thought." He said, ducking his head as he lifted his headphones over his ears. Maybe that would hide their burning colour.

"No, no, wait! Thank you, I'd- I'd appreciate that!" Levy called, hurrying to walk beside him. Gajeel looked from the corner of his eye, hesitating before pulling the headphones back to where they wrapped around the back of his neck, tucked under his bun. He stuffed his hands into his jeans, thumbnail rubbing along the pick he kept in his left pocket.

They walked in silence, nerves finally making Gajeel want to punch a tree. This was stupid. He was stupid. What did it matter that he could pick Levy up with one hand, or that she was showing what was probably an obscene amount of skin for a summer camp. Were the rips in the back of her tank top really necessary? Even if they looked metal...

He paid more attention to Levy as they wound their way through the cabin area. Her eyes were focused directly ahead, eyebrows set in concentration. She was taking almost three steps for every step he took. And that was fucking _hilarious_.

"Havin' trouble there, Shrimp?" Gajeel asked, widening his stride. He wondered if he could make her run to keep up.

"Well not all of us are so _blessed_ in the height department." Levy snapped, irritated scowl pulling down her full lower lip and making the bridge of her nose bunch. She gasped when she noticed his longer strides, swatting at his chest with the back of her hand in an offended motion. "You're doing this on purpose!" She accused, stopping in her spot and crossing her arms to glare at Gajeel.

"Gihii, I don't know whatcha talkin' 'bout Shrimp." Gajeel drawled, scratching the side of his face as he looked her over. "Ain't my fault ya got some size envy."

Levy's glare finally made a shiver crawl along his spine, and a thought crossed his mind that Levy could very well kick his ass is she wanted to. He had no idea _how_ , but it still felt very true. "I mean, I'm sure bein' so small could come in handy. Like communicating with the mice that make your clothes." Gajeel bit his tongue. Why couldn't he stop teasing her?

"Are you calling me Cinderella or referencing a children's book?" Levy asked, suspicious as she slowly walked back to his side.

"Uh," Gajeel stumbled over his words. _Shit_. "No?"

"Because that book was my favourite when I was a kid," Levy hummed, tone suddenly light as they began walking again. "I think it was called _Everything For Something?_ Or was it _Nothing From Someone?_ " Levy hummed, tapping a finger on her lips as she spoke. Gajeel twitched with each improper title. Obviously it was _Something From Nothing_ , but he wasn't about to say that. He shrugged instead, focusing on the few birch trees in between the maple and harlequin trees, their white and peeling bark standing out in the sea of green.

"Oh well, I'm sure it'll come to me." Levy pouted, put out by being unable to trip up Gajeel. He began to pick at the flaking design on his guitar pick in his pocket as silence fell over them again. Why did he care if it was awkward? He didn't, because that would A; mean he cared at all -which he _didn't-_ and B; that Gajeel felt awkward, which he definitely didn't. He also didn't want to hear Levy laugh. She probably snorted like the nerd she was for knowing that reference.

"So how'd ya know Erza?" he asked instead of keeping his fat mouth shut. Maybe he should pick up his bad habit of chewing on his necklace. At least then his fucking voice wouldn't crack. Not that it cracked. Because Gajeel was past puberty, _obviously_.

He didn't know how but he blamed Natsu.

"Oh, I take Judo with Erza, and she teaches a self defence class I go to sometimes." Levy said easily. At least Gajeel knew his self preservation instincts were right, if she was in the same class as _Erza_ then she could take his ass in an instant.

"I haven't seen ya around the city. Though I guess I wouldn't be looking so close to the ground to notice, gihii- _urgh_." Gajeel said, smirk falling as she elbowed him in the spleen. Damn did she have pointy elbows, but Gajeel couldn't let her _know_ that, so he kept walking, ignoring the throbbing and inability to breath.

"I'm not even that short!" Levy defended.

"Are you over five foot?" Gajeel asked, peering down at her expectantly.

"Four ten and a half." Levy grumbled under her breath, huffing and looking away when Gajeel cackled loudly. "Shut up. How do you know Erza, anyway? Judging by the way you ran at lunch I'd say you two know each other pretty well."

Gajeel grit his teeth when he remembered the fiasco that had been _completely_ his cousin's fault. And his roommates for that matter. "We've both been regulars at camp for a couple years, my pink haired dumbass of a cousin too, and we go to East Hill together. If ya think she's a terror here you don't even know what she's like as student president." Gajeel shivered as he remembered their pep rallies, attendance _not_ optional. "I don't know how Juvia manages to wring her in."

Gajeel and Juvia had come up through the same middle school class, both part of a local gang that Juvia's uncle had run. Igneel had tried to step in, but with Metalicana serving overseas as an army mechanic there had been little chance of Gajeel listening to him. They had both finally left together just before a big bust sent Juvia's uncle to jail and her on the street, then Gajeel's house. She had found solace in musical theater while Gajeel had reconnected with Natsu and Igneel, even if he'd never admit to his cousin how much he had helped him. Now Gajeel was set to graduate his metalshop program with honours next year, and Juvia wouldn't stop bugging him and Natsu to join band and work in the pit for her last performance. As if Gajeel was gonna go anywhere near Erza and her obsession with the stage, even if she was only the stage manager.

"Wow, it seems like everyone here knows one another," Levy sighed, the two now wandering through the outdoor activity stations. Gajeel raised a pierced eyebrow as he noticed the arrows and bows just laying in the field. Who was the genius that left those out?

"We get new people every year," he said gruffly, inspecting an arrow off the ground. "Like Bunny Girl and those the dumbass she brought with her."

"How come you call her Bunny Girl?" Levy asked, wandering to the next station that held bocce balls and lawn markers.

"'Cus she looks 'bout as scary as a cotton tailed rabbit." Gajeel said, head snapping to Levy when he heard a light snicker. Her hand covered her mouth but her dark eyes were dancing, and Gajeel grinned proudly. He'd managed to make her laugh.

"Don't let her hear you say that." Levy warned, wagging a finger at Gajeel even as she returned his shit eating grin -as his father liked to remind him every time they saw one another. "I'm sure it takes a lot of skill to herd Loke, Gray, and Cana. They're like cats."

Gajeel scoffed. "Don't insult cats like that."

Levy laughed openly, clasping her hands behind her back as they wandered past the rock wall and along the path that would lead them to the rehearsal studios. "You're right," she hummed.

"Hey! I see Juvia!" She said suddenly, gripping Gajeel's wrist as she began a light trot. Gajeel blinked dumbly down at where her tiny hand half encircled his wrist, just above the spike wristband he wore, because it was _metal_.

"Uh," he said, like even more of an idiot, letting Levy drag him to where Juvia had began to wave. He noticed how her hair bounced with each step, light and easily caught in the breeze as it fluttered around her head band. Gajeel was reminded how blue was his favourite colour.

Fuck.

* * *

Fuck.

Natsu wondered if he jumped off the stage if the five feet would be enough to kill him.

Probably not.

He debated trying it anyway as Cana sauntered down the steps. Natsu yanked at his headphones, stuffing them in what was already a knotted mess of wires into his hoodie pocket, hands following after he placed the mic on the ground as he tried to will himself to disappear. "So tell me, how'd you switch personalities like that?" Cana asked as she made her way to the stage, crossing her arms on the edge of the elevated floor and looking up at him. "One minute you're the dictionary definition of 'needs a hug but doesn't know how to ask for one' and the next you're Mr. Rock God, owning the stage like it's your bitch."

Natsu choked on his spit, taking a hand out of it's safety nest to pull his beanie further down his face. Maybe if he just prayed really hard a meteor would fall from the sky, killing him instantly. When a few seconds passed with no such divine intervention, Natsu released the breath he'd been holding and peeked at Cana, who now sat on the edge of the stage, one knee bent as an armrest and the other hanging off the old wood. She raised an eyebrow as more silence passed by them, taking a sip from a flask she had gotten from... somewhere.

"The music, I guess." Natsu mumbled, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. He knew that Cana was close to Lucy now, and whatever hope he had of not being a _total_ idiot in front of her was gone. Her and Cana were probably going to laugh about it for hours. And Loke. And Gray too, probably.

Fuck.

Maybe he'd just live in the woods for the rest of camp.

"Well you should get that confidence with whatever you do. I haven't heard someone sing with that much raw talent for years." Cana said instead, and Natsu almost choked on his spit, again. He stalled under her suddenly serious look, head tilted forward as her mouth followed her lowered flask. "It suits you."

Natsu was struck by the sudden family resemblance between her and Gildarts. The old man had been Natsu's mentor the last few times he'd been at Fairy Tail, Natsu always feeling easy around him like he did with his own father. He didn't know why, but seeing the same eyes staring at him from the semi-drunk teenager both calmed and unnerved him.

'Um, thanks." Natsu said.

"No prob!" Cana smiled, back to her early cocky smirk. "'Sides, Lucy loves guys that look like they know what they're doing, and you have the right amount of innocent virgin that'll take her off her guard."

Natsu flushed deeply, stuttering over harsh denials at Cana's vague hand movements that gestured to, well, _him_. "I-, I mean I'm not _not_ but I d-don't see, I- fuckin' alcoholic!" he finally spat out, glaring at the ground as he hopped from the stage, hands stuffed back into his pocket in fists. His glare snapped to her as she cackled loudly.

"Holy shit, if you could see your face! Relax buddy, no one cares here, duh. It's a stupid social construct anyway, no need to get your panties in a bunch." Cana waved off, patting him roughly on the back as she followed suit and pushed off the stage, walking towards the entrance to the arena.

Natsu debated turning on his heel and disappearing to go find a nice cliff to throw himself off of, but decided against it. Who would take care of Fev? Happy was sure to find a good home with one of his cousins, but his guitar? He wouldn't trust her with anyone but himself.

"Yknow," Cana began, pulling him from his thoughts, "your performance actually reminded me of someone."

Natsu raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

Cana opened her mouth to answer the question, but was interrupted by a very loud, very abrupt, distinctly red-headed-

"YOU THERE! HALT!"

Cana cursed to herself before springing up and grabbing Natsu by the scarf.

"Run for your life you virginal Jared Leto!"

Natsu fought for breath as Cana pulled him along, his feet complying with the harsh jolt from the rest of his body. He glanced behind them just as they slipped backstage to see two people, one with 'Camp Enforcer' written on her megaphone in sharpie, running down the steps towards the stage.

Why did he not check the mic was on?!

Eventually Cana let go of him to fumble with the dock on a stage side door. Her steady hand surprised him considering he was pretty sure that flask she'd had not five minutes ago was now empty. Within seconds they were out the door and barricading it behind them.

They ran for another five minutes. Making sure she-who-shall-not-be-named was no longer in pursuit. Cana found the whole endeavour quite hilarious. Natsu, however, was shitting himself. Even if Erza hadn't caught him now, there was no doubt she'd recognized his voice. She would come for him. Maybe not now. Maybe not later. But soon.

She would find him.

Natsu gulped.

"Anyway, what was I saying again?" Cana asked as though they hadn't just finished running for their lives.

"Something about my performance remind you of someone?"

"Oh yeah!"

"Please don't say Gray," Natsu cut in, "I couldn't live with myself."

"Oh no, you don't wear nearly enough eyeliner."

"I don't wear any eyeliner."

"That's not be point here," Cana waved her hand flippantly and pulled another, different flash from- well, it had to be thin air bc the girl had no pockets. Or y'know, an actual shirt.

And then she surprised him even more.

"You reminded me of Lucy."

Natsu froze.

"WHAT?!"

"Have you ever seen her perform." She insisted, "And I don't mean that fancy-smanshy graceful piano playing- I mean _really_ perform."

"I-I've never even heard her sing."

"Well first of all, you're missing out. But second of all," Cana smiled to herself, "About a year ago Lucy had this huge argument with her Dad. I can't even remember what it was about but fuck- she stayed at my house for a full week. Then all of a sudden, she just went home. Said everything was fine. Loke found out she'd signed up to the talent show the next day, and eventually she all asked for our help in putting her act together. But it was _her_ act. It was the first time she ever went solo."

Natsu listened with interest, not quite understanding where Cana was going with this.

"She invited her dad. Reserved the best seat in the house for him. And by god, that was the best 'fuck you' performance I've ever seen in my life."

"What did she do?" He was a little afraid to ask.

"She sang _Not Ready To Make Nice_ by the Dixie Chicks and man, country was so unexpected but fuck if she didn't work it." Cana looked up at the sky, awe in her eyes as she relived the performance. "Played her violin as even more of a 'in your face, Dad' point and damn if I didn't cry tears of joy watching that angry little blonde seeth into the microphone and play her violin to a non classical song. The audience broke into the loudest applause of the night, even if her dad refused to pay for mer music lessons afterwards."

Natsu stumbled over a stone. "He stopped her from playing and singing because she was mad at him?" Natsu asked, horrified. He and Igneel had gotten into a few screaming matches about his attitude when he was younger, sure, but the thought that Igneel would ever deny him a part of _himself_ , Natsu just couldn't imagine a parent doing that.

"Pssh, as if. Nah, Lucy used the allowance she had been saving and applied for scholarships for the programs. Got in too, when she proved that her father refused to support her." Cana brushed off, turning over the empty flask and pouting as it solidified her lack of prohibited drink.

"Oh," Natsu said. Real smart. Cana's telling him about a major moment in Lucy's life and all he can say is 'oh'. Still better than being caught by Erza though, so Natsu would take it. He looked around as they met the main path that led in a loop around camp, pale gravel reassuring as it meant he was only a few minutes away from being able to hide in his cabin for the next 48 hours.

"Shit."

Natsu was being yanked by his scarf - _again_ \- before he could ask what Cana had seen, forced to look at the bulletin board that would house the weeks' themes once they were released. Right now though, it held bulletins for school opportunities, programs, concerts, scholarships, and dead center; a poster for a karaoke night happening at the camp fire after sundown tomorrow.

"You two! Have you seen anyone run by here?" A voice called behind them, Natsu feeling his soul try to escape via puking and every nerve in his body fighting between 'run for your life' or 'lay down and accept your fate'.

"No idea what you're talkin' 'bout Erza," Cana drawled, perfectly playing the clueless camper role. "But if you see who had just been singing tell them congrats on the record deal quality voice."

Natsu blushed at the compliment, hands fisted tight in his pockets and struggling to concentrate on the board. There was no way she meant that. Natsu had an average level voice, _at best_. Now, if he could show off his guitar skills, then maybe she would tell Lucy about it...

"I will _tell them_ that the stage is off limits territory when not during an event." Erza snapped, obviously irritated at missing her victims. Aka, Natsu. "What are you two doing here anyway?" she asked, squinting when Natsu finally turned to look at her over his shoulder.

"Just checking out the opportunities on the board!" Natsu said, voice cracking and sending him burrowing into his scarf.

"Yeah, I was just convincing Natsu here to do karaoke night! Can't keep all this talent hidden behind a dumbass beanie!" Cana added eagerly, slinging an arm around his shoulders and somehow dislodging his 'dumbass' hat. Natsu squawked as he lunged for the grey beanie, too late to do anything else but clutch it to his chest.

"Damn! What bet did _you_ lose?" Cana guffawed. Natsu shrank under her laughter and tried to elbow her arm off his shoulders. Why was she the same height as him?

"It's just my hair," he grumbled.

"It's a good thing Lucy's favourite colour is pink then, eh?" Cana continued to tease, grinning at Erza. "But really, this can't be his _actual_ hair colour."

"It is." Erza said with a small smile at Natsu. "And I think it suits him. I will see you both at campfire tonight! I'm looking forward to hearing what you choose to perform tomorrow Natsu."

Natsu watched blankly as Erza and a girl with purply black hair and a deadly stare stalked off. "What the fuck?" Natsu hissed, shoving off Cana roughly and yanking his beanie over his head.

"Aw cmon, don't be so sensitive." Cana rolled her eyes. "Besides, she bought it!"

"Now I have to sing at that stupid karaoke thing." Natsu grumbled. What if there were no good songs, or if his voice cracked. Sure Natsu could sing in the shower, but he'd never actually sang in front of people.

He wanted to put his head through the cork board. Why was he acting so insecure? He was Natsu Dragneel, son of Igneel Dragneel, renowned rescue helicopter pilot. He could do anything he put his mind to.

Except talk to pretty girls like Lucy apparently.

"Well, if you do manage to find the balls to get on stage, try and pick a song you know in your sleep. Or come see me for a confidence boost recipe." Cana winked, wagging her empty bottle beside her head.

"Erm..." Natsu said, helpfully. What the fuck had he gotten himself into?

* * *

 **A/N: Go Natsu belting out the bangers! Hope you guys are liking it so far, let us know!**

 **\- HN & NJAF**


	5. Good Time, Good Life

**Chapter Five: Good Time, Good Life**

 _Good energy_

 _Come follow me_

 _Oh, it's gonna be a fun night_

Juvia smiled brightly as she waved to Gajeel and Levy, sighing happily as she watched Gajeel choke on his tongue at Levy leading him around. Juvia didn't think she had ever seen Gajeel let himself be manhandled like that by anyone. Except Juvia that is.

"Gajie!" Juvia called clinging to his other arm when the two got close enough. "Juvia is so happy Levy brought you with her! Now we will have two guides!"

"I'm afraid we're down to the one," Lucy pouted, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared in the direction of the cabins. "Cana was supposed to meet us here, but honestly who knows where that girl ended up."

Juvia smiled at Lucy's obvious irritation with Cana, but the anger disappeared quickly from her pretty brown eyes. They all turned to Gajeel, who seemed to pale under the expecting smiles of all three girls. "So, where is Gajie taking Juvia and her new friends first?" Juvia asked.

"Would ya stop with the nickname, Rainwoman?" Gajeel grumbled, lips pinched in his signature pout. He always remind Juvia of a fluffy Great Pyrenees, intimidating to look at until you realised he thought he was a lap dog.

"I think Gajie is a cute name," Levy said offhandedly. Gajeel squawked, coughing loudly and lifting the arm that Juvia held to try and mask the noise. Juvia met Levy's clever eyes, stifling a giggle of her own, lest she send Gajeel into a sulk. He had a habit of hiding for a few hours when too embarrassed.

"Oi, don't you start either, Shrimp."

Levy's smile fell to a dangerous glower, grumbling under her breath at the nickname. Juvia wanted to ask why she seemed so upset, nicknames from Gajeel showed a comfort few were graced with. Juvia considered hers an honour. "Why doesn't Gajie show us the studios first?" Juvia offered instead, smiling brightly at the other two girls nods of approval. Gajeel grunted his lack of disdain for the idea, allowing Juvia to half lead him in the direction of the studios. She was eager to see what kind of floors they would have for the dance areas.

"What song are you humming?" Lucy asked, falling into step beside Juvia.

"Oh, was Juvia singing out loud? She apologies." Juvia said, blushing brightly as she turned her gaze on the path before them.

"No," Lucy said back, smile kind as she gently rested a hand on Juvia's arm. "Don't apologize! It sounded really pretty."

"She was singin' _I Can Hear The Bells_ from one of her musicals." Gajeel grunted.

"Gajie remembered the name!" Juvia cooed happily, squeezing his arm tighter.

"It's not like you don't sing it every time some guy smiles at you," Gajeel grumbled, nudging Juvia kindly with his elbow but keeping his face forward. Juvia knew he didn't understand how Juvia could open up so easily, especially after their shared past horrors, but Gajeel also yearned for the embrace of a lover. Juvia knew it. It's just while she kept hers on her sleeve, Gajeel carried it buried under several layers of snark, sarcasm, muscle, and glaring.

"You thinking of Gray?" Levy asked, peering around Gajeel's chest. Juvia noted that Levy had to take two steps for every one that Juvia and Gajeel took. Something that Gajeel also seemed to be aware of, by the way he slowed his gait. Interesting. Those thoughts would have to be looked at another time, however, as Juvia was drawn into a blushing mess at the mention of her infatuation.

"He's pretty cute, isn't he?" Lucy asked, eyes bright as she leaned into Juvia's space. "With his dark hair and dreamy eyes and brooding aloofness. All you could want in an emo boy."

Juvia balked at Lucy's wagging eyebrows. Her lips drew into a thin line as realisation dawned on Juvia. "Is Lucy to be Juvia's love rival aside Natsu?"

Gajeel groaned loudly at the same time as Lucy sputtered. "Juvia, I am _not_ interested in Gray! He's like my brother!" Lucy complained, pouting at Juvia. Juvia saw through her denials however, bright blush loud on her puffed cheeks. Besides, how could someone _not_ be interested in Gray? He seemed so sweet and protective and indeed dreamy.

"You could do so much better than that prick, woman," Gajeel said. He rolled his eyes at Juvia's frown, guiding them along the left fork of the trail.

"Gajie is just jealous that he isn't the main man in Juvia's life now," Juvia teased. She giggled at his low grunt and muddled curses.

"Juvia," Levy started, tone cautious, "when we met you said you didn't have any friends, but it seems like Gajeel is your _best_ friend."

"Oh, that's because Gajie isn't Juvia's friend. He is her brother."

"Oh!" Levy said, shocked as she looked between Gajeel and Juvia. "I'm sorry, um..." she trailed off.

"You two look nothing alike." Lucy said, comparing Juvia and Gajeel's faces intently.

"That's 'cus we ain't related. Juvia just lives with me and I've known her since I was a brat." Gajeel smiled at Lucy, crooked grin the most relaxed Juvia had seen it with more than two people present.

"Sounds like you two are basically siblings." Levy hummed, grinning easily at Gajeel.

"Gajie is the only family Juvia knows. And Gajie's family is Juvia's family."

"Awww," Lucy and Levy said at the same time, Juvia blushing under their attention. "Well now you have family _and_ friends." Lucy said brightly. Juvia smiled back at her, a little in awe of how pretty Lucy was. Juvia would be in trouble with her bid for Gray's attention, but perhaps being around her chiming giggles and enchanting smile for so long would have numbed Gray to Lucy's siren like effect. Juvia would much rather have Lucy as a friend than Love Rival. Or perhaps they were destined to be both.

"Yes," Juvia said instead.

They continued to walk and make small talk between the three girls and Gajeel's highly expressive grunts, Juvia enjoying the warmth of the sun on her face and the easy sounds of people around her. "Juvia wants to dance." She said suddenly, beaming up at Gajeel. Juvia's friend rolled his eyes, as he often did around her, but stopped them in front of a single story white building that looked like it could fit seven school buses nose to bumper in it. Large glass windows gave light into the last four rooms, the rest with average windows on their side of the building, wooden trim giving it a clean but still woodsy feel.

"Well go on in and check out the rehearsal space, Rain Woman."

Juvia clapped her hands excitedly, running into the building. She passed pairs of doors, each with a small window and letter on the natural wood, light blue paint on the walls scuffed around knee height from instrument cases banging against them over the years. Juvia burst through the third last door on the left, standing still as she basked in the feeling of being back in a dance space. This is where Juvia felt at home the most. Looking around the room, Juvia was able to see a fairly updated sound system, and a barre that wrapped around three walls of the room at waist height, above the wooden panelling. Juvia bounced on the balls of her feet, taking in how much give and bounce the floor had. It was better than Juvia's rehearsal space at school!

Juvia did a few channe turns to the centre of the room, her skirt swirling around her legs making her smile, spotting to a tree out the large wall sized window. There was so much natural light, it made Juvia giddy and want to _dance_. Juvia wondered if she could sneak back here after turn in and dance a bit. It always made Juvia feel better.

"Don't worry, she gets like this when she finds a new studio. Or crush."

Juvia turned towards the door, rocking on her feet and hands clasped behind her back, smiling at where Gajeel stood, Lucy and Levy peeking around his bulking figure. "Gajie, come dance with Juvia!"

Gajeel blushed and scoffed at Juvia's out stretched hand, Levy and Lucy giggling and looking up at him slyly. "But Gajie always dances with Juvia," Juvia said softly. Had she done something? Gajeel bit his lip, blush darkening on his skin as he fidgeted, eyes darting between the wall, Juvia, and Levy. Ohhh, so that was Gajeel's problem. And he said Juvia had a dramatic streak! As if he had forgotten the time he scoured the allies for weeks trying to find a cat after Natsu and Wendy had gotten their kittens.

"Awww, that's so cute!" Levy chimed, grinning up at Gajeel. Juvia's love sense tingled, and she fought letting out a high squeal. Setting up Gajie and Levy would be an excellent distraction when Juvia needed a break trying to woo Gray from Lucy's charms!

"Gajie, come dance with Juvia! Please?" Juvia batted her eyelashes at Gajeel, clapping happily when Gajeel's shoulders slumped and his whole face flared bright red.

"One dance." Gajeel said through his teeth, stalking towards Juvia in the centre of them room. "Got it, Waterworks?"

Juvia hummed as she nodded, holding out her hand expectantly. She grinned brightly when Gajeel took it, rolling her eyes when he stood tense and awkward in front of her, like they hadn't done this a hundred times.

Gajeel cracked a small grin when Juvia started into a swing routine she had had to learn for an audition for Grease in the advanced after school program, and had promptly forced Gajeel to practice with her until she couldn't feel her thighs. Well, Gajeel always said forced, but Juvia had only needed to cry and beg for ten minutes before he caved, which was frankly a record. Usually it took a few hours of pestering him. Juvia squealed and laughed when Gajeel did the full lift, swinging her in the air and on either side of his hips, motions easy and needing as much thought as breathing. She panted slightly when he put her down, his large hand patting her head to signal he was done. She beamed up at his fond look, straight line that his lips were usually set in slightly curled up and eyes soft, like when he looked at Pantherlily. He also reserved this look for when Natsu made him laugh, though Gajeel would rather choke his cousin than admit to seeing him as a brother.

Juvia bowed exaggeratedly when Lucy and Levy began clapping, both standing in the room now and excited by even Juvia's standards.

"Everyone here is so talented!" Lucy awed. Juvia thought she heard of tinge of jealousy in Lucy's voice, but it was quickly pushed aside when the blonde smiled brightly. Juvia felt her cheeks heat when she smiled back shyly. "Just like that boy who was singing earlier. He sounded _amazing._ "

"The mysterious boy did sound quite good to Juvia," Juvia agreed. She looked at Gajeel in confusion when she noticed him snort and shake his head. "What is Gajie thinking?" Juvia asked.

"Nothing, Water Works," Gajeel brushed off, grin wide and sharp as he looked down at her. He patted her head before walking back to Lucy -and Levy, more pointedly- leaving Juvia in the middle of the dance studio. "Now come on, unless you _don't_ wanna see the lake side," Gajeel grunted.

He left the room with the girls, Juvia sharing an excited look with Lucy and Levy before following her tall, dark, and brooding friend. Juvia blinked as both girls looped their arms through hers, physically pulling her into their conversation as all three chased after Gajeel. Her new friends.

Juvia couldn't wait for camp to really begin.

* * *

Gray leaned back, elbows resting on the riser step behind him as he looked at the empty stage just behind the large bonfire pit. Steps were carved into the ground in a semi circle around the stage, wooden planks bolted down for seats. _This_ was what he had imagined when Lucy had first brought up the idea of a summer camp to him. Outdoorsy and a little run down, wood _everywhere_. Not the state of the art recording studios and practice spaces Gildarts had shown him when he took Loke and Gray on a rough tour -including where the female staff hung out. Why Gildarts would be chasing after twenty-somethings was a thing Gray didn't want to think about, but might also help explain Cana's constant silver flask.

And he thought he had a weird relationship with _his_ family.

Whoops, bad thoughts. Think about how big of a drum set could fit on that dinky little stage. Better.

Gray looked over the sea of faces around him, taking in the ages. He was suddenly thrown back to his first AFI concert when he was 13, an endless crowd of young teenagers screaming along to surprisingly dark lyrics. Gray had truly found his people that first concert. And that black was his favourite colour.

"Look at all these cute little kids," Lucy cooed, eyes shining as she caught sight of one that even Gray had to admit made him wish for another sibling, even if it was only so he wasn't the youngest anymore. His attention shifted from the little lost looking girl with blue pigtails to the boy running around with no shirt between the aisles, something that Gray hoped was chocolate or dirt smeared over his chest as he chased his friend.

"They sure are there." Gray drawled, keeping an eye on the screaming twelve-year-old even as he turned back to Lucy, making sure that he had plenty of time to make a break for it in case the snot nosed brat tried to put his grubby hands on Gray's limited edition Nine Inch Nails tour shirt.

"Stop being a butt," Lucy swatted at his arm, distracted when she began waving for Levy to join them. Gray bit back a grimace, seeing the hulking figure of his death metal bunk mate behind Lucy's friend, and the knowledge that where Gajeel was there was the unfortunate chance of seeing Flame Head. What kind of scene punk dyed their entire _head_ pink like that? Gray's thoughts were thankfully saved from thinking more about Natsu when he caught sight of blue hair and even bluer eyes peeking out from behind Gajeel's back, pale skin flushing as she met Gray's gaze and hid fully behind the six-foot-something mass of black clothed muscle.

It was kind of cute how shy Juvia was, but also kind creepy. The jury was still out.

Gray kept his face blank when Juvia sat down next to him, pointedly ignoring how her skirt was slit to reveal the smooth skin of her thighs, pressed tight together as Juvia made herself take up less space. Gray furrowed his eyebrows when it clicked in his head, remembering how Lucy used to sit the same way in front of her father. He met Juvia's eyes and gave her a small smile, feeling unnatural as the corners of his lips forcefully turned up slightly. He was determined to never make anyone feel like how Jude made Lucy feel. He'd be the family she deserved, like how she was the family he didn't.

Juvia squeaked loudly, face turning bright red before she scrambled away, hiding on the other side of Gajeel. He turned to Lucy, smiling slipping away. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked, glancing at the ball of blue and fur that Juvia had become.

"You mean other than existing?" A voice said beside him, Gray snarling as he turned to look up at him.

"Was hoping you fell into the river," Gray spat back, frown deepening when Natsu sat down beside him.

"Both of you be nice," Lucy sighed, Gray rolling his eyes at her motherly tone. "And no Gray, all you did wrong was stripping your shirt before smiling at her."

"Wha- _goddamit_." Gray said, looking around and catching sight of the turned inside-out black of his shirt, snatching it off the ground and brushing off the wood chips.

"Are you like, trying to get arrested?" Natsu asked. Gray's head snapped to him with an insult on his lips, stalling when he only saw curiosity in Natsu's eyes. Holy shit, did the idiot wear contacts too? Who had green that bright as a natural colour?

"Uh, no. I don't _mean_ to get naked all the time," Gray explained, scratching the side of of his face. He didn't even know why he was explaining this. Half his brain told his mouth to just say 'fuck off' and drop it, but the other half of his brain had different ideas. "My aunt was a competitive rock climber and used to take me and my cousin with her. She liked to train uh, with less clothes so the cold wouldn't bother her and Lyon wanted to be just like her, and I couldn't let Lyon beat me. So uh, the habit kinda stuck."

"Huh," Natsu said, nodding as he looked at the stage as well. "So pervert runs in your genes. Or outta them, I guess."

"You pink haired dipshit," Gray snarled. "You're lucky people are around or you'd be at the bottom of the lake."

"It's nice to see you two talking!" Lucy beamed at them, grin bright and a little forced as she leaned forward to look at both him and Natsu. "This camp is the time to make friends and explore our own identities! Aren't you guys _excited?"_

"Uh, is there something funny in the water I should be worried about?" Natsu asked, cheeks pink as he eyed Lucy but gaze wary.

"Nah," Gray grunted, slinging an arm around Lucy's shoulder and pulling her closer to his chest. "She just read too many brochures and is as optimistic as a fucking beam of sunshine." Gray smirked when he noticed Natsu curl into himself a bit, eyes flicking away from Gray's and his lips turning down. It was better Natsu accepted that he had no hope with Lucy anyway. He didn't think he could stand sharing a room with that idiot mopping over his best friend all summer, all dopey eyes and dumb smiles. God it would be so gross.

"Gray," Lucy complained, smiling as she pushed herself away from under his arm. "Just because I'm not still in my emo phase doesn't mean I'm a beam of sunshine."

"I think you're pretty beamy," Natsu mumbled. Gray sneered at him, Natsu returning the look briefly. His attention was turned to Lucy again at her soft giggle, Natsu's eyes widening as Gray's snapped to Lucy. She was blushing, eyes cast down and her fingers playing with her ponytail tip.

"That's a stupid thing to say." Gray grumbled, slouching back against the riser. He pulled at the neckline of his shirt, cloth itchy and hot suddenly.

"I thought it was sweet." Lucy defended. Gray held Lucy's warning glower, 'tch'-ing before looking back at the stage. If Lucy knew the _truth_ she wouldn't be so eager to flirt with the pink haired bastard. Gray was stopped from telling her just how not 'sweet' the pink fuckwit was when someone spoke on stage.

"Hello there brats!" Makarov said, voice carrying even without a microphone over the wide group. "It's good to see you all again. Here at Fairy Tail we like to keep things informal, don't need at those blasted rules holding us back, do we brats?" He grinned, mischievous twinkle in his eye reminding Gray why Cana's dad fit so well into the staff here. "So be free to try new things and explore! Bend and break the rules of what you were told you can and can't do! Whatever makes your heart sing can't be all that wrong, can it? We do have some guidelines though, the themes of the weeks coming up to give you growing brats some structure!

"So without further adieu, here is the lovely Mira Jane to introduce them." Makarov motioned to the side, a pretty white haired woman waving her hand. Well, Gray couldn't exactly tell her age, she had the kind of face that could be fifteen or twenty-five. Gray jerked when he felt Lucy's nails dig into her upper arm, grip vice like as she clung to him. Gray could practically see the stars in her eyes as she gaped at the stage.

"Gray! Gray look! Gray oh my God it's Mira Jane!" She whispered loudly, shaking him with each word. Gray was pretty sure she was breaking skin at this point.

"He literally just said that," he pointed out dryly, trying to pry her off one finger at a time, and failing. When the fuck had she gotten so strong?

"No," Lucy hissed, "I mean it's _the_ Mira Jane Strauss! World famous model and rockstar? Part of the mysterious band She Devils? I have her poster above my bed, dummy."

Gray was pretty sure he didn't care. And that he was losing circulation in his arm.

"The She Devils are famous?" Natsu asked, incredulous as he eyed the stage. Gray glared at him, no one was even talking to the idiot. "Nah," he said after a pause, grinning easily at them as he leaned back in his seat, beanie starting to pull back and show his cheap pink dye job. Natsu quickly fixed it, continuing on as if nothing had happened. "It's just Mira and Erza and Ever! If they were famous they wouldn't be hanging around at our camp, no matter how great the program is."

"Erza's in the She Devils?" Lucy gasped, nails _definitely_ cutting into Gray's arm now. He might lose the limb.

"Yeah! She's the main guitar, Mira's vocals and rhythm guitar, and Ever is drums and vocals. Though, they ain't exactly been getting along since last summer..." Natsu trailed off, face paling as he looked at the stage again. "They _are_ called the 'She Devils' for a _reason_."

Gray snorted as he eyed Mira Jane over again. Her smile was kind but shy as she fiddled with the projector, a pretty but simple summer dress that fit her snugly enough to remind Gray that he was a _teenager_. "She doesn't look all that scary."

"She makes Erza look like a baby." Natsu said flatly, dead serious as he held Gray's gaze. Gray felt a shiver of fear travel his spine at Natsu's words, turning to look back at the stage. Wait, no, that chill was just the evening air on his bare spine.

"Fuck," Gray hissed, looking around to find his shirt. _Again_.

"Careful or Erza will hear you," Levy cooed, eyes sparkling as she giggled at Gray's sudden stiffness. He put a hand over his heart, trying to get it to restart.

"Levy don't tease him like that, he nearly had an asthma attack in the cafeteria." Lucy chastised lightly. Gray whipped his head to see Natsu snickering at him, rage boiling under his skin. How _dare_ that dumbass laugh at him! At least he didn't have a dozen piercings in his ear, no matter how much he had been trying to save up to get his own done. His would look _way_ cooler! Gray dug his elbow into Natsu's ribs, grinning when the air left his lungs in a pained gasp. His grin sharpened when Natsu was stopped from attack by Mira Jane finally speaking.

"Hello everyone! My name is Mira Jane, but you guys can call me Mira. I'm the camper coordinator, so if you guys ever need to talk to someone about the events or need a friend I'm here! Gildarts is our professional counselor for more serious or personal matters, as I am a camper just like you!" Mira smiled, taking a breath. Gray wondered how many times she had done this, considering how rehearsed and polished she sounded. "We have some very exciting themes this year that focus heavily on teamwork and collaboration and trying new things. The rest of this week will be for settling in! Some meet and greet events but nothing too major, including the camp favourite: Karaoke.

"The first theme is different talents! This will last three weeks and will end in a miniature camp showcase. You all remember checking the second box on your application forms, and will be grouped with someone who chose your main skill as they're secondary!" Mira gestured to the screen, where pictures of smiling kids faces were opposite to the words she had just spoken in point form. "Then the next theme will be different genres, where we will pair you with someone of the same main talent in a different genre. This will be the last week before the break, where you guys can have a little R and R before coming back. The sixth and seventh weeks will be the collaboration weeks, where you get to choose your partner. The staff thought by then you should have enough time to see who you work best with and what suits you! The eighth and ninth weeks will be the group weeks where you will be split into several groups to work on choreography and stage presence, and the last and final week will be all about preparing for the final showcase for all your parents and loved ones!" Gray scoffed at her overly cheery tone. He wasn't sure if he would count his family as his loved ones.

"Of course," Mira continued, pulling Gray's attention back to her, "there will be several student organized events scattered throughout the weeks, so keep your eyes on that cork board and your ears open. Now, who's ready to rock?"

The crowd met her energetic question with a loud roar. Gray was pretty sure he heard someone screaming about being 'manly', whatever that meant. He looked over at Lucy, jolting when he saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes. "Uh, Luce?" he asked, unsure what to do.

"She's just so beautiful, Gray," Lucy whimpered, clutching her hands to her chest. "And she's a _camper_ here! Gray what if I bump into her and spill a drink all over her? What if she hears me singing? What if she doesn't _like_ me singing? _What if she hates my songs Gray?"_

Gray sighed, patting her head and rolling his eyes at her warbling lip. He forgot how much of a fangirl Lucy could be sometimes.

"Nah, she'll love ya," Natsu assured, smile bright as he looked at Lucy. God did Gray want to punch him, something heavy curling in his chest.

"He's right, Bunny Girl," Gajeel chimed in, "Mira's crazy but she's nice enough."

"She's the only one who listens to him try and sing," Natsu whispered loudly, sharing a sneaky grin with Gray over mocking Gajeel before beaming at Lucy's high giggle.

"Oi, it's 'cus she's the only one 'round here who can recognise _talent,"_ Gajeel spat out, glaring at his cousin. Gray had heard Gajeel humming before he left the cabin. He wasn't sure he'd call whatever Gajeel had ' _talent'_. He kept his mouth shut, though, not seeing a good escape route and preferring not to start a fight in the middle of a crowd.

"All you brats get your butts back to your cabins, lights out is in ten and I have no clue where our lovely Erza is at the moment." Makarov called loudly, grinning at the petrified crowd before hopping off the stage.

"C'mon you knuckleheads, I dunno about ya but I'd rather not play hide and seek with the crazy redhead my first night here." Gajeel said gruffly, standing and making a path through the crowd. Gray and Lucy shared a look, shrugging as they stood and followed after him, Natsu and Loke striking up a conversation as they followed. _Traitor._ Actually, if Gray thought about it this was the first he had seen of Loke in hours. Weird.

* * *

Natsu was pretty sure if it wasn't for Happy sleeping on his chest and pinning him to the bed that Gray would be dead.

"For the last time, it's 'the goddamn door'!" Gray snapped, throwing a wadded up piece of paper at Natsu's head. He bared his teeth in return before rolling his eyes, wishing he had a rock or something harder than his pillow to throw in retaliation.

"I thought an emo like you woulda known it was ' _a_ goddamn door'," he hissed.

"Oh my God it's been three hours you're both giant music nerds just fucking _look it up._ We do have internet here," Loke sighed. Gajeel had put in his headphones a while ago, so the group was saved from his creative and explicit threats, although Loke might be nearing the 'murder' point pretty soon. They had been stuck in the cabin for the last four hours due to a sudden thunderstorm that made it nearly impossible to see your own hand in front of your face outside. The weather was due to clear up before karaoke, which was at eight; another six hours away.

Natsu didn't know if he could survive another six hours in this damn cabin.

"Lucy's saying that the girls are playing truth or dare and 'having girl time'," Loke continued, "I wish I was with them, having Cana probe my sex life would be much more enjoyable than listening to you two bicker over song lyrics."

"Stop being melodramatic and just fucking google it, seeing as you're the only one in here with a signal." Gray snapped, throwing a pillow at the orange haired boy this time. Hah, that dumbass was out of pillows now.

"If it'll make you two shut up for a bloody second then _fine_."

Natsu perked up as he waited for Loke to prove him right, shove that in Frost Bite's face. As if anyone knew Panic! At The Disco better than him. That band had practically raised Natsu through his early teens, he wasn't about to misremember the lyrics of one of their most iconic songs. Although it wasn't Natsu's favourite, it was still up there alongside _Nine In The Afternoon_.

"Oh my God."

"What!" Natsu asked, upper body hanging over the barricade of his bunk bed as he looked down at Loke, eager to be proven right. A grin spread over his face at the rueful smile on Loke's face, eyes flicking in Gray's direction above him apologetically.

"Natsu's right."

"You're dead to me."

"Fucking suck on _that_ you fake emo!" Natsu crowed, squeezing Happy in a victorious embrace. He closed his eyes, imagining Lucy laughing and beaming at him as he proved Gray wrong, a little exasperated but fond and soft.

"I can't believe I was wrong," Natsu heard Gray whisper, looking sideways to see Gray staring at the wooden ceiling blankly.

"Erm," Natsu said, suddenly unsure of how good his win was. Gray looked _shaken_ by the revelation. "You okay there Frosty?"

"What else have I been wrong about. How can I call myself a fan. _Who am I?"_

Oh God Lucy would never forgive him if he broke her best friend. And Natsu would much rather deal with the piss baby Gray than _this_ , if he were to even care about Gray. Which he didn't.

"Oi, Loke. I, uh, think Gray's having an identity crisis." Natsu said, giving Gray another concerned pass over. The boy looked near comatose actually.

Loke rolled his eyes, texting with someone quickly as he ignored his friend above him. "Give him a smoke and an hour and he'll be fine." Loke said dismissively. Several more minutes passed as Gray mumbled to himself before Loke groaned loudly and threw himself into a sitting position. Natsu watched curiously as Loke dragged one of the suitcases from beneath his bunk and rummaged through it, finding his prize with a huff. He stood, kicking the suitcase under the bunk irritably before whipping the cardboard box at Gray's head. "Fucking light up but if Lucy asks I'm ratting your ass out."

"Does anyone have a lighter?" Gray asked in a lost voice, dark eyes glazed and freaking Natsu the fuck out. He lobbed his over wordlessly, Gajeel's attention finally caught by all the flying objects.

"Wait!" Natsu said, sitting up in a cross legged position and lifting his hands to cover the smoke alarm placed over the middle of the bunk. While Natsu had feared any batshit ideas Gajeel might have come up with wake him up when he first noticed it, he was thankful it was in reach now. He raised his arms, covering it easily before nodding at Gray to continue. "Don't need Gildarts bustin' in our door on our second day 'cus you needed a drag. Or worse, _Erza_." Natsu shared a shudder with Gray at the thought who gave a barely visible nod in recognition before lighting the cigarette between his lips.

Gray laid back down wordlessly, eyes becoming distant again even as the end burned a dull red and orange, travelling down the white stick with each inhale. Natsu watched, curious as the greyish white smoke puffed out of Gray's nose effortlessly. He had considered taking up smoking to give himself more of an authentic growl in his voice when he was thirteen before his dad had found the pack he had stolen from Gajeel and promptly shoved a handful of poupore in Natsu's mouth for being 'a miniature dumbass'. He'd never admit it, but he'd always hoped to look as cool as Gray did when he envisioned himself smoking. Then the thick burning-tar scent hit his nose and his face scrunched. He definitely didn't need whatever could make a smell that gross filling his lungs, thank you very much.

Minutes passed and Natsu felt his shoulders and the back of his arms start aching from the awkward position. "You almost done there Mr. I-Make-Bad-Life-Choices?" Natsu hissed. He rolled his eyes when Happy curled up in his lap, purring contentedly at his warm spot. Gray ignored Natsu, his eyes far away. He put the stub of a cigarette out on the odd circular object he had been tapping the ashes onto, quickly pulling out a second one and lighting it up. Great, his bunk-mate was a fucking chain-smoker.

"Has anyone seen my mirror?" Loke asked suddenly, Natsu hiding a snicker when he noticed _what_ Gray had been using as an ashtray. Natsu was stopped from telling Loke _exactly_ what his mirror was being used for by Gray's mumbles becoming clearer and louder as he pulled the cigarette from his lips, still laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling.

" _So baby pull me closer in the back seat of your rover that I know you can't afford, bite that tattoo on your shoulder."_

Natsu blinked and squawked when Gray rolled over groaning loudly, face burying itself in his pillow and smoke dangerously close to his blankets. "Uh, Gray?" Natsu asked, ducking his head awkwardly to look closer at the dark haired boy.

"How can I know the words to that trash song and _not_ _I Write Sins Not Tragedies_?" He wailed, voice muffled by the cotton stuffed fabric he was trying to smother himself with.

"Because you're an idiot?" Natsu offered.

"Fuck off," Gray mumbled into his pillow.

"Stop being emo," Loke called up, eyes still glued to his phone and thumbs flying effortlessly. Natsu wondered who he'd be texting so obsessively.

"You fuck off too."

"You're all stupid and I'm one noise away from throwin' both of your dumb asses out into the storm," Gajeel barked. Natsu decided he was done helping Gray and dropped his arms, hanging his body over the railing on his bed to look at his cousin. Happy meowed loudly, upset at his spot moving.

"Words not working?" Natsu asked. Gajeel sat surrounded by balled up scraps of paper, Lily claiming Gajeel's abandoned pillow for his own, pencil nearly bit in half. Gajeel always got pissy when he couldn't work out a song properly, and while Natsu was happy that it meant his cousin wasn't trying to sing he was also very, very afraid because it meant Gajeel was one too-loud-breath away from trying to put his pencil through someone's eye. Natsu didn't think Lucy would dig a dude in an eye-patch.

"No, it's going like a fuckin' dream," Gajeel snarled, pencil snapping in his hand. Natsu gulped, scurrying back onto his bunk. Gajeel had seemed more surprised at the shattered wood and lead but Natsu _really_ did not want to be thrown into the rain. It always made his piercings itch.

"Hey, Natsu?" Loke called. Natsu cocked his head, unsure of what it meant that Loke was talking to him.

"Yeah?" he asked. Gray was still mumbling into his pillow and his cigarette was out, so Natsu was thankful there would be no cabin fires tonight. Natsu was bound to set one off eventually, but he'd rather know for a fact he had been the one to cause it when he got blamed.

"You got your guitar here?"  
"I always got Fev," Natsu said, even more puzzled.

"Is she acoustic?" Loke asked.

"Nah, she's electric," Natsu said, his pride seeping into his voice when he thought of his guitar.

"Cool, use mine. It's acoustic."

"Uh, 'kay?" Natsu said slowly. He had no clue what the fuck was happening anymore.

"I have a request." Loke said, still looking at his phone and typing faster than any girl Natsu had seen at his school do.

"Erm, sure?" he replied. Gajeel passed Loke's case up to him with a low grunt, obviously still working over his lyrics in his head if he was willing to help out Natsu before he asked.

Loke waited until Natsu had the guitar settled in his lap and partially tuned before speaking.

"Play _Wonderwall."_

"Get fucked," Natsu howled, whipping the guitar pick at Loke's face. He grinned broadly at Loke's sly smirk, fishing another pick from his jean pocket before strumming. He began to sing in the most contrived, hipster voice he could, voice warbling as he sang. Loke joined in shortly, harmonising nicely with Natsu. Even Gray lifted his head slightly from his pillow, amusement and disgust equal in his curled lip and narrowed eyes.

"Hey Strawberry," Gray said, rolling onto his side. "Play _Welcome To My Life_ next."

Natsu cackled mid word, resuming his very _serious_ and _artistic_ persona as he nodded at Gray's request.

At least it was better than worrying about what the fuck Natsu was going to do about karaoke tonight.

* * *

Cana leaned back against the railing, watching as a boy probably around fourteen or fifteen got off the stage, shy smile at the light applause of his karaoke performance, the few people eager to perform but too scared to do it when _all_ attention was focused on them performing before the actual event.

No one here would pass up the opportunity to listen to Lady Gaga, even if it was done by the cracking voice of a boy on the cusp of beautiful, beautiful puberty.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for either Lucy or Juvia, both girls definitely in need of a perpetual chill pill and Cana was only too happy to comply as substitute for a happy visit from the pot fairy.

Cana snorted at the thought of Loke wearing a pink tutu and flinging sparkling packets of weed wherever he went. Such a shame the camp had a strict no drugs policy. She wondered idly how difficult it would be to forge a prescription for medical marijuana as she straightened and strolled over to the karaoke sign up sheet. The forgery itself wouldn't be the hard part, she thought as she signed herself up, smirking at her song choice. No, the hard part would be slipping the forgery past Gildarts keen eyes.

That was a challenge for another day however. For the moment, she settled on perfecting the handwriting of the next three people that would very generously be performing after herself- though of course none of them would be able to top her own performance.

"Signing up for kareoke?"

Cana turned to find Natsu peering over her shoulder, a few tufts of pink hair sticking out from under his beanie.

"Want me to add your name?"

Natsu snorted.

"God no."

"Why not? Don't tell me you get stage fright. Y'know hot people aren't meant get that, right?"

Natsu blushed at the compliment as someone pushed past him to get to the sign up sheet. Cana shoved them back for his sake before handing over the pen and moving out of the way herself.

"I'm not hot," Natsu rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before shrugging, "And I get anxiety."

"Well I got a fix for that," Cana smirked. She could tell from their previous conversations that Natsu wasn't going to take her word on his hotness level -which was fairly high in her professional opinion- but she knew the fix to anyone's nerves easily.

"Wha-" Natsu jolted when Cana presses her flask to his hands, squeaking as he tried to hide the plain silver canister in the breast of his hoodie. Cana snorted as she plucked the pen back from the plastic set up table, twirling it lightly between her fingers as she waited for Natsu to unfreeze.

"Just polish that beauty off and you'll be set!" She grinned, writing down Natsu's name for him as he continued to gape at her. Cana would've pegged him for a punk and rule breaker with his piercings and pink hair and the mischievous smirk he wore when he wasn't getting lost in that dense mind of his, but so far he'd been as adventurous as Lucy. Which was to say more than the normal person, but not quite on the same level as Cana.

The whiskey should fix that out.

"Uh," Natsu said, sniffing the flask lip before jerking his head away. "What even is this, eighty proof?"

Cana grinned, impressed. The boy at least knew _something_ about drinking, which was enough to make him good in Cana's books. "Close," she hummed, winking at him. "It's eighty eight."

"How are you even alive right now," Natsu sniffed the flask again, nose wrinkling in a way she knew Lucy would find adorable. Damn it, now she _had_ to get them together. Not to mention that meddling in Lucy's love life was basically her job description as one of Lucy's best friends.

"Sheer will power," Cana drawled, tapping the bottom of the flask up so it hit his lips. Natsu would never woo Lucy if he couldn't grow the balls to go on stage and sing a fucking karaoke song. Natsu shot her another -completely unnecessary- disbelieving look before taking back a hard sip.

Cana nodded, impressed again by his ability to handle a shot.

He took another shot at her encouraging nod, Cana distracted as she lifted a hand in a peace sign as Loke walked over.

"Just because you're an alcoholic doesn't mean you need to convert my bunk-mate," Loke said flatly, arms crossing as he gave Cana that _look_. It was both disapproving and amused and Cana always rolled her eyes at it.

"As if you wouldn't be pushing it on him if you'd seen what a wreck he was. He doesn't even think he's hot!" she scoffed. Natsu choked, denials catching on his tongue at Cana's truth speaking. His cheeks had already gotten a bit of a flush, which meant her idea was working.

Loke snorted, eyebrow raised as he looked at Natsu. "Not everyone has the self confidence you project Cana."

"Well they should." Cana stuck her tongue out at her friend, Loke laughing and slinging an arm around Natsu's tense shoulders.

"So what do you need Cana's favourite liquid courage for?" he asked, eyes lighting in the way they always did when Loke sensed fresh meat to hit on. Cana narrowed her eyes at him, mentally telling him to back off. Pinky was gonna be for Lucy, and Cana was determined to beat off anyone that even hinted at flirting with him. Which probably wouldn't be helping his apparent self esteem issues, but Cana liked to take one problem at a time. And right now, that problem was her ginger friend thinking with his dick.

"'Cus he's too chickenshit to get on stage and woo Lucy with a karaoke performance."

Cana raised her eyebrows as Natsu choked again, face flaming as he took a long and third sip. Loke's face pinched, Cana watching as his gaze flickered to where Lucy was standing with Gray and Juvia. Levy was off with her band-mates -Jet and Droy she was pretty sure their names were. She had felt a little bad for them, what, with their obvious fawning over the short girl completely either going over Levy's head or flat out ignored.

"Am not!" Natsu said hotly, pouting under Cana and Loke's laughter.

"Prove it," Loke jabbed him in the ribs. "Sing her a love song."

Cana snorted despite herself.

" _Lame,_ " She drawled, "They met like three days ago, it's a bit early for Whitney Houston don't you think?"

Natsu's nose crinkled at the song implication, but Loke ignoring it. The arm over Natsu's shoulder tightened protectively.

"But what if he _will_ always love her?"

"Doesn't matter," Natsu hiccuped, "I'm pretty sure I couldn't hold those notes anyway."

Cana rolled her eyes. Did he even _hear himself_ when he sang? She'd only heard him belt it out once and she had been impressed enough to wager the kid had a hell of a vocal range on him. So, that song probably wasn't his preferred genre, but Cana was willing to bet his rendition would be interesting.

"So what _are_ you going to sing then?"

Loke pulled away to inspect Natsu's response to Cana's question. Without the support, Natsu swayed a little, and Cana couldn't help but mask a smirk. She watched as Natsu scratched his head in thought, the motion pushing his beanie back enough to free the turfs of hair he'd hidden earlier. He made no move to correct himself.

All of a sudden his hand dropped and Natsu chuckled as he grinned to himself.

"What? What have you thought of?"

"Hehehe, Gajeel will be so embarrassed." Natsu's chuckle turned into maniacal laughter.

"Gajeel?" Loke grimaced, "You want to sing a love song to your cousin?"

Natsu threw the flask at Loke, hitting him square in the shoulder. Cana managed to catch it before it hit the ground.

"I know what I'm going to sing!" Natsu practically screamed before running off into the crowd.

"That was my playing arm!" Loke shouted after him, cradling himself as though he'd just been shot.

Cana watched Natsu run in what was very obviously not a straight line.

"Shut up you idiot, we have to go after him!" She slapped Loke on his wounded side, "We have yet another Operation Lightweight on our hands."

* * *

Lucy watched her two friends running after Natsu for the fourth time in ten minutes as she took her seat beside Gray in front of the karaoke stage. She had to admit, she was a little concerned. It seemed Cana was trying to hide her notorious flask in Natsu's crumpled beanie, which was also filled with leaves. Natsu didn't seem to notice the absence of what Lucy had guessed was one of the boys many crutches as he told her two friends to stop following him at a very surprising volume. Loke seemed only mildly irritated by the whole situation, but for some reason his right arm was bundled up in a sling made out of a hoodie.

"Fucking morons." Gray muttered to himself as he watched them go by.

"Should we save them a seat?"

Gray seemed to think a moment before shaking his head.

"I get the feeling this is one of those times where we've no choice but to pretend we don't know them."

"You mean like that time we went to Hargeon on a school trip and Loke got his hand stuck in the condom vending machine they had in the hotel?

"And Cana tried to use peach schnapps as a lubricant to get him out? Yeah, exactly like that actually."

Lucy nodded, remembering the sickly feeling of hoping no one would realise she was sharing a room with the girl screaming 'I know one of you bastards brought lube with you goddamnit' down the hallway. She still had nightmares about what the elderly couple from Alverez must have thought.

"Why was Loke in need of some, um, protection?" Juvia asked from Lucy's right, having overheard their conversation.

"I ask myself that question every time I find one in my bunk."

"He brought condoms to _camp?"_ Lucy grimaced.

"Yup. So far I've found eight in my bunk. Still in the wrapper- thank god. Yesterday, I woke up in the middle of the night to find him leaning over that pink haired moron's bed. I know he's an idiot, but no one deserves having Loke unknowingly in your bed- we don't know where he's been- and I was about to warn him but then I realised Loke was just hiding a rubber in the smoke detector."

"Why would Loke need a-a, erm, one of… _those_ in a smoke detector?"

Lucy and Gray sighed in unison.

"Because," They answered, voices completely lacking emotion, "His sex is on fire."

Juvia's nose wrinkled in response. Lucy was inclined to agree.

Lucy leaned forward in her seat, trying to find her friends in the crowd. She spotted Cana pulling Natsu and Loke into a team huddle off to the side of the stage. Lucy's brows furrowed.

"Did either of you check the karaoke list?" She asked Gray and Juvia.

"Juvia thought about signing up, but decided she does not want to make her camp debut yet."

"I didn't think drum solos counted as karaoke so I didn't bother. Why?"

"We have left Cana to her own devices for over an hour." Lucy observed.

"Shit."

"Why is this a bad thing?" Juvia asked them.

"It might not be." Lucy admitted, "But we should always be weary when we spot Cana with a flask."

Juvia's face turned very serious.

"Juvia shall remember this."

"I swear to god, if that ass-hole has signed me up I'll-"

Gray was cut off by a dramatic fanfare as the lights were dimmed and Gildarts stepped onto stage with a clipboard and a wild grin. Lucy applauded with the rest of the crowd at his entrance, excited for the night of performing to begin.

Gildarts announced the first performer and the show began. First up was no one Lucy knew, but their talent was undeniable. If the rest of the night went like this they were all in for a treat. As the show worked through the first couple of performers, Lucy wondered at everyone's talents. Although karaoke was mostly for singers, some brought their guitar with them for an acoustic song, while others went up with friends to ease their nerves- like Levy and her band-mates.

Lucy stood and cheered loudly as they walked onstage after Gildarts introduction. Jet and Droy carried guitars with them while Levy stepped straight up to the microphone, bouncing on her tiptoes to reach it until Gildarts reappeared to lower the stand for her. Lucy could see the small girls blush from the audience.

"Alright guys!" Levy's voice chirped over the speakers, "We're Shadow Gear and we hope you enjoy this song!"

Lucy smiled to herself as she recognised the opening of the song. She noticed Gray's surprised expression from the corner of her eye, not expecting a song choice such as this from a band named _Shadow Gear._

" _We were both young when I first saw you,_

 _I close my eyes and the flashback starts_

 _I'm standing there,_

 _On a balcony in summer air."_

Levy's voice was sweet as it carried over the crowd, all the audience swaying in their seats at the easy melody. To Lucy, Levy seemed perfectly content in front of the microphone. She seemed to grow more confident as the song went on, even detaching the microphone from it's stand and walking across the stage as she sung, enchanting the audience. Though Lucy did spot her quickly turning away after meeting eyes with someone in the crowd. Lucy turned to see who but couldn't make out the shape of the person she suspected it was in the dim lighting over the seats.

Her attention turned back to the stage as Levy neared the climax of the song, her passion stealing Lucy's breath from her.

" _Romeo, save me, I've been feeling so alone_

 _I keep waiting for you, but you never come._

 _Is this in my head? I don't know what to think,_

 _He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said…"_

Levy lent her body towards the crowd and held out the microphone, a smile beaming on her face. Lucy was the first to stand up and continue the song, followed by most of the other girls in the audience.

" _Marry me, Juliet, you'll never have to be alone,_

 _I love you and that's all I really know."_

Levy brought the microphone back to her own lips and finished the song with the crowd singing along with her. Lucy was beaming with pride for her new friend by the time the song drifted off. But even as everyone stood and applauded them, Lucy thought she saw a hint of doubt on the blue haired girl's face. But perhaps it was just the light.

"Who knew Shadow Gear would be a pop band?" Gray smirked as he applauded too.

"Juvia saw Gray mouthing the words. Does Gray adore love songs like Juvia does?"

Lucy snorted.

"That and he loves country music."

"I _do not."_ He protested.

Lucy laughed, but Gray could do nothing as he was once again interrupted by Gildarts presence on stage.

"Thanks for that Shadow Gear! Next up is…. Ah! The amazing, the wonderful, the beautiful- my daughter- Cana Alberona!"

Lucy clapped as Cana swagged on stage, unable to stop herself from shooting an apprehensive look at Gray, who matched her own curiosity.

"Alright losers," Cana's voice purred as she pulled the microphone from it's stand where Levy had left it, "Let's get this party started."

Cana pressed play on the karaoke machine and began to sway her hips. The first notes floated over the crowd and Lucy's muscles clenched with dread.

"Why do they even have this song on there?" Gray hissed beside her.

As if she could hear them, on stage Cana smirked and winked in their direction before she began singing.

" _Sex with me's so amazing,_

 _All this hard work, no vacation_

 _Stay up off my instagram, pure temptation."_

Lucy covered her face with her hands. Relieved as the song continued that Cana at least had the sense not to sing the n-word in front of children. At least she hadn't gotten drunk enough to forget she was white.

" _Vodka and water, and a lemon,_

 _And a few other things I cannot mention."_

Lucy peeked through her fingers to see Cana slut-dropping on stage, oblivious to the thirteen year-old with a nose bleed in the second row. Equally obvious was Gildarts, who was beaming from the side of the stage, eyes filled with pride for his daughter as he did some strange middle-aged version of twerking.

"I'm now certain we died in a horrible car crash on the way home," Gray shouted in her ear over the music, "Because we're definitely in hell."

"Well you were the one driving." Lucy reminded him.

Gray shot her a look she understood perfectly. They had only themselves to blame for not giving Cana the correct amount of supervision.

" _Sex with me, sex with me, sex with me,_

 _So amazing, so amazing, mmmm."_

When the song finished there was a very long moment of complete silence as Cana smiled proudly from the stage. Lucy glanced at Gray to see him shaking his head at her. No, they would not reward her for her shameless behaviour.

Though most of the other boys in the camp seemed to have a different idea to Gray as they shot to their feet applauding and whistling.

Cana bowed low, providing the audience with a pretty clear view of her cleavage. The applause grew louder.

"God, guys are so disappointing sometimes." Gray sighed.

"Juvia does not think Gray could disappoint her at anything."

Lucy was too busy watching Gildarts hug Cana onstage to acknowledge Gray's discomfort at Juvia's statement. Clearly this was the point at which Cana had gotten her mitts on the sign up sheet. She wondered at what point during the show her friends meddling would cease.

Gildarts finally released his daughter as the applause died off, once again consulting his clip board.

"Alright next up is Gray-" Gildarts frowned, he turned the where his daughter had just exited the stage, "Cana! You know Gray can't sing, that's just cruel!"

Beside Lucy, Gray sunk down in his seat groaning. Juvia leaned forward on Lucy's other side and offered him a sympathetic smile.

"Juvia is sure Gray has a wide range of other talents."

Lucy patted Gray's shoulder as he groaned once more.

"Alright, ignore that," Gildarts continued, "Next up, Lucy Heartfilia!"

It was Lucy's turn to groan, pushing herself from her seat before Cana wadded her way through the crowd and dragged Lucy on stage herself. It was official, either her or Gray had to be on Cana Duty at all times. Cleary Loke couldn't be trusted. She sent a half-hearted glare at her alcoholic friend when Cana blew her a kiss.

Lucy's mood brightened when she noticed the keyboard was plugged in still, settling down at it tentatively. Lucy laughed under her breath when someone wolf-whistled from the crowd, Loke always the flatterer.

She took a deep breath, running her fingers over the keys without any pressure, gaining a feel for the new instrument. Lucy played the first chord, already knowing what song she wanted as her camp debut.

" _You bought a star_

 _In the sky tonight_

 _Because_

 _Your life is dark_

 _And you need some light."_

Lucy lost herself as she played the notes from memory, singing along to her favourite comfort song. It had been there during her worst fights with her dad and her loneliest nights without her mom, the one that made Cana push her back to music after she caught Lucy singing it in the shower. Lucy was also willing to admit that it was easier to perform with the keyboard in front of her, the white and black keys stealing her focus from the sea of faces watching her pour her heart and soul into her voice.

" _And still you'd like to think you own me_

 _You keep buying stars."_

Her fingers flew along the keys, emotions building and swirling inside her as she sang out the chorus again, meaning only those who truly knew her could understand. Lucy had cried when she first heard this song, and she felt tears prick the corners of her eyes again now. She belted out the next verse, loud and powerful and raw and more than than the gentleness of the original track.

" _You're buying stars to shut out the light_

 _We come alone and alone we die_

 _And no matter how hard you try_

 _I'll always belong in the sky."_

The rest of the song was a rough blur, Lucy's fingers playing without thought and the lyrics pulling from her lips as easily as breathing.

" _It's who you are."_

Lucy pulled her hands back into her lap after releasing the final notes, blinking in shock at the loud applause she was greeted with. She saw Gray and Cana standing side by side, her arm thrown over his shoulders as she hollered expletive riddled praise. Her other arm was around Juvia's shoulders, Lucy beaming at the blue-haired girl's tear streaked face and enthusiastic clapping. She had to flush when she caught sight of Natsu by Loke's side, green eyes bright and _beaming_ as he grinned at her, hair wild in a way that made Lucy's heart pick up and blush coating his cheeks. Loke too was giving her a standing ovation, pride making his chest puff out. Lucy bowed awkwardly, hurrying off stage when she caught Gray's 'encore' floating through the noise of the campers.

Lucy smiled brightly at all the small congratulations people gave her as she passed, finally coming to stand on the other side of Gray with a huff.

"That was amazing Luce," Gray greeted, pulling her in for a rare hug. She hugged him back just as quickly, not even caring that he was shirtless again.

"Thanks," she mumbled, grinning at him when he pulled back. They took their seats, Lucy ignoring Juvia's pout two people over as she focused on Gildart's return to the stage. He was wiping a tear from his eye, looking at Lucy almost as proudly as he had looked at Cana after her performance.

"And now, though I don't know how he'll top Lucy's beautiful rendition of _Buy The Stars_ by Marina and the Diamonds, is Loke!"

Cana and Gray snickered at Loke's muffled whine from offstage, Lucy blushing at having the attention turned again on her so soon. "Oh shit," Cana hissed, scrambling from her seat between Gray and Juvia and stumbling over Lucy as she tried to get down the stage. Gray and Lucy shared a look, sighing tiredly as they silently agreed to plead ignorance for whatever Cana had gotten herself involved in. Lucy ignored Loke's slow swagger onto the stage when she saw Cana grip Natsu's elbow, whispering something in his ear before rolling her eyes and dragging him out of Lucy's eye-line. Worry pitted in her stomach. It was never a good sign when _Cana_ was dragging people away.

Loke was playing his guitar and singing some generic love song -quite well and with so much feeling Lucy was sure everyone who was interested in men at the camp was swooning over him- but Lucy couldn't help but favour craning her neck to try and track where Cana and Natsu had gone.

Mainly Cana.

Lucy wasn't keeping an eye out and worrying her lip over a boy she had known two days. Because that would be silly. And creepy. And yet, here she was, keeping her eyes open for any flash of pink amongst the crowd. Lucy had been pleasantly surprised to see him without his ever present beanie, especially now as it made him easy to track in a crowd.

God, she really sounded like a stalker.

But honestly, she was just concerned for his well-being. Cana was capable of roping almost anyone into something that, under normal -sober- circumstances, they would never agree to. She could only hope Natsu was more resistant to peer-pressure than she was. Though knowing the strength of the alcohol Cana carried with her, that hope was pretty far fetched.

As if on cue, Lucy spotted pink at the side of the stage. As Loke wrapped up his song, Natsu was high-fiving Gildarts as Cana hid a giggle behind them. Lucy tried her best to shoot Cana a glare, but from this distance there was no way her drunken friend would be able to see her. If the way Natsu was swaying slightly on his feet was any indication, Cana had certainly succeeded in roping Natsu into something his sober self would never have agreed to.

The audience broke into applause at Loke's performance. Lucy clapped along, but Loke had barely finished taking a bow before Natsu strolled onto the stage, not even waiting for Gildarts to announce him. Loke barely rolled his eyes and patted the pink haired boy good luck on the shoulder.

"Hey everybody!" Natsu shouted into the mic as he tore it from the stand, "My name's Natsu and this is _Damned If I Do Ya!"_

The music began and instantly Natsu was jumping about the stage, excluding an energy that had the crowd cheering in moments. Lucy's draw dropped in shock. This was a far cry from the bashful Natsu she'd been getting to know over the last few days.

" _I fought it for a long time now_

 _While drowning in a river of denial_

 _I washed up, fixed up, picked up all my broken things."_

Lucy stared at the stage in wonder, completely awestruck. That voice! That was the voice everyone had heard singing the other night! She turned to Gray to share her surprise, but her best friend only shrugged, as if he knew Natsu had to have had something hiding up his sleeve.

On stage, the singer himself was singing with his eyes closed, hand over his heart as if it had truly been him that had ended up alone after one stupid call. From the second row, Lucy was enthralled. People behind her were standing up and cheering as Natsu sang out the second rendition of the chorus as he pointed out to the crowd. Lucy wasn't surprised when she finally realised she was grinning from ear to ear. He was amazing! Why was he so shy if he could make people go crazy like this?

Lucy let out a yell of support, punching her fist into the air. She hadn't expected him to notice in such an exhilarated crowd, but his head snapped in her direction as soon as the sound left her lips. Even after knowing him for such a short while, Lucy would have expected him to blush, but instead Natsu's smile only grew bigger as he changed course on stage.

The crowd went wild as Natsu knelt and jumped off the stage. The girl sitting in front of Lucy jumped up in excitement, but Natsu ignored her, instead squeezing between the girl and her friend until he was standing right in front of Lucy.

" _Make a fool of myself when you hang around,_

 _When you're gone_

 _I'm a match that's burning out_

 _Could have been, should have done, what I said I was going to.."_

Natsu's green eyes were intense and his smile bright as he sang. Lucy couldn't move, she was so surprised. He was close enough to smell Cana's whiskey on his breath.

And that's when it hit her.

The festival. The taste of whiskey on her tongue. The pink hair. _The kiss._

Now she knew why he'd known her name when they'd first bumped into her. Thoughts racing, she didn't even notice as Natsu turned away to finish the song on stage. She'd seen him before. They'd spoken before.

 _And they'd kissed._

* * *

 **A/N: Long time no update but we're back! And with a pretty big chapter too! We hope you enjoy and please let us know what you think!**

 **\- HN & NJAF**


	6. Misery Hates Company

**Chapter Six: Misery Hates Company**

 _I don't belong to my mistakes_

 _Tired of sleeping wide awake_

 _It's killing me slowly_

 _It's crowded and lonely_

Natsu woke up staring at the ceiling of his bunk, unsure how he got there and surrounded by darkness.

Then he remembered.

And _then_ he rolled over and tried to smother himself with his pillow.

"What the fuck did I _do_?" Natsu wailed. The song. He sang that _fucking song_ to Lucy. He'd made a giant fool of himself on stage. He was going to be sick, and not just from the leftover whiskey in his stomach.

"Well, you sent Lucy into a mini panic attack, then asked Cana if she could give her the trick she shared with you to calm down, then passed out when Gray here punched you in the face." Loke drawled, unperturbed at Natsu waking up screaming past midnight. "Overall it was a hell of a first performance. Really scene stealing."

Natsu moaned in a rather pathetic sound as he went back to trying to kill himself with his bedding. Maybe he'd just stay in the cabin for the rest of camp. His dad would probably miss the final performance anyway so no big loss.

"Oi, at least she proves the point you weren't hallucinating," Gajeel supplied from under Natsu, like an awkward and sleep deprived troll under a bridge.

"But that's the worst possible thing that could happen!" Natsu spat. He was _not_ feeling tears prick his eyes and he was _not_ so pathetic to continue to have his emotions on display for his dickhead bunkmates.

"Why the fuck not?" Gajeel spat back, jostling Natsu as he probably kicked the plank under Natsu's mattress. Loke too was confused, Natsu forcing himself not to tear apart his pillow when he spoke up as well.

"I mean, isn't it better to have everything out in the open?"

"Of course it's not, you fuckwit." Gray finally snapped. Natsu looked over, Gray curled in his blanket and facing firmly away from him. "Lucy would have been much happier without ever knowing that her first kiss was with a fucking perverted scene wannabe like _him_."

Natsu curled in on himself before throwing off the covers. He needed air. He needed to be alone.

"Fuck _off_ already, what is your fuckin' _problem_ with my cousin?" Gajeel snarled. Natsu froze, caught off guard by Gajeel's words. He never called Natsu his cousin, said he didn't want anyone to affiliate them with each other when Gajeel went big. "Ever since we got here you've been nothin' but an ass. Not even Natsu deserves that bullshit twenty-four seven."

Natsu blinked at his cousin's defence.

"He took _advantage_ of her when she was drunk-"

"Holy hell Gray. If you really believe that _Natsu_ could take advantage of a drunk girl then come down here and look me in the eye when you say it. Natsu doesn't have a fucking malicious bone in his body and I understand that your fragile masculinity took a hit from failing to 'protect' Lucy or whatever but it's time you stop blaming Natsu for that shit. And yourself. Just accept that shit happens and there's nothing you can do but move on." Loke huffed when he finished, rustling sounds of fabric indicating that he rolled over.

Natsu was pretty sure he was still drunk because nothing was making any sort of damn sense. Maybe he was having a whiskey dream.

He was still going to take that walk.

"Oi," Gajeel grunted, freakishly good eyesight catching Natsu making his way down the ladder, "whad'ya think you're doin'?"

"Getting some air," Natsu said back. He grabbed his hoodie from where it had been thrown in the corner, by him or Gajeel he couldn't remember. Happy mrawed at him as his bed was moved, jumping onto Gajeel's bed and cuddling with Lily instead. Natsu mentally apologized to his cat, but was more thankful to feel his iPod in his pocket. Hopefully the charge wasn't completely dead.

"You... you don't have to go, dipshit," Gray made more shuffling noises in his bunk, obviously uncomfortable.

"Aww, scared I'm going to get lost before you have the chance to apologize properly?" Natsu teased, unsure what to do at Gray's olive branch and his defense swatting it away before he could stop his mouth from moving.

"On second thought I hope you drown in the lake. Bye."

Natsu snorted, rolling his eyes as he walked around the suitcases that hadn't made their way back under the bunks. He'd rather have this rivalry with Gray than try to unpack whatever the fuck was going on in either of their heads. He needed to focus all his energy of reliving every terrible moment and fantasizing about how much Lucy probably hated him.

God he was so fucked.

He threw in his headphones, praying as he pressed the button on his right earbud to play his music that his battery was still alive.

He left out a breath of relief as he exited the cabin before recognizing the song that was playing.

 _When you were here before_

 _Couldn't look you in the eye._

 _You're just like an angel._

 _Your skin makes me cry._

Fuck.

He continued walking, debating changing the song or accepting his fate. The chorus rang in his ears as he reached the edge of where the cabins were tucked away, haunting and painful and _true._

 _But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo._

 _What the hell am I doing here?_

 _I don't belong here._

Natsu decided to let it play.

* * *

Loke woke up to his phone buzzing.

He frowned not remembering setting an alarm last night. He felt beside his pillow, hand splayed as he searched for the source of irritating buzzing. He finally found it, half shoved under his pillow. He squinted at the screen, bringing it so close it almost brushed his nose, blind without his contacts or glasses. Loke blinked in surprise when he saw that the vibrating was a steady stream of texts coming in from Lucy and Cana. He looked at the time. 7:13 AM.

This wouldn't be good.

He unlocked the screen, deciding to start with Cana's texts.

 **Alcoholic Princess - 6:59 AM:** _so Lucy's awake_

 **Alcoholic Princess - 6:59 AM:** _she's not happy_

 **Alcoholic Princess - 7:01 AM:** _Correction: She is Very Not Happy_

 **Alcoholic Princess - 7:02 AM:** _Loke you're the best at calming her she is yelling at me through text and not talking to me._

 **Alcoholic Princess - 7:04 AM:** _Loke I think I might have fucked up a little bit last night._

 **Alcoholic Princess - 7:04 AM:** _just a little_

 **Alcoholic Princess - 7:06 AM:** _don't tell her I said that_

 **Alcoholic Princess - 7:10 AM:** _fuck_

"Just a little bit," Loke snorted under his breath. Hey, how were they supposed to know Natsu would be such a light weight? That wasn't Loke's fault, and it certainly wasn't Natsu's. Loke looked at the bunk diagonal to his, frowning at the unpleasant twist in his gut seeing it empty. A small meow took his attention from the phone vibrating in his hand and the empty bunk, Loke looking down to see Natsu's blue cat sitting by the foot of his bed and staring at him with sad eyes.

"Do you know where he is?" Loke asked Happy. He sighed when the cat made a sad sound, slinking onto the bed as it took Loke speaking to it as invitation onto his bed. Loke decided it was probably best to deal with Lucy now before she stewed too long.

 **My Sunshine - 7:00 AM:** _Did you know?_

 **My Sunshine - 7:00 AM:** _Loke I swear to god_

 **My Sunshine - 7:01 AM:** _Get your ass up I know you're a morning person_

 **My Sunshine - 7:01 AM:** _As if you'd miss your skincare routine_

 **My Sunshine - 7:03 AM:** _Answer me you coward_

 **My Sunshine - 7:04 AM:** _Okay so you didn't know but what did Natsu ever do to you that you decided it'd be funny to get him drunk?_

 **My Sunshine - 7:06: AM** _Oh my god is Natsu okay_

 **My Sunshine - 7:07 AM:** _Why didn't he tell me? Loke ask him why he didn't tell me_

Loke looked at the empty bed again. How did _he_ end up in the middle of this?

 **My Sunshine - 7:10 AM:** _Loke_

 **My Sunshine - 7:11 AM:** _Oh my god Loke I kissed Natsu_

 **My Sunshine - 7:11 AM:** _I've had my first kiss_

 **My Sunshine - 7:11 AM:** _LOKE_

 **My Sunshine - 7:11 AM:** _LOKE IVE KISSED A BOY_

 **My Sunshine - 7:13 AM:** _AND GRAY KNEW ABOUT IT_

 **My Sunshine - 7:14 AM:** _the stupid emo's not responding to my texts_

 **My Sunshine - 7:14 AM:** _tell Gray to get his ass to my cabin_

 **My Sunshine - 7:14 AM:** _we_

 **My Sunshine - 7:14 AM:** _are_

 **My Sunshine - 7:14 AM:** _going_

 **My Sunshine - 7:14 AM:** _to_

 **My Sunshine - 7:14 AM:** _talk_

Loke rolled over, groaning into his pillow.

This was _so_ not good. And it was all Gray's stupid fault.

 **Me - 7:15 AM:** _Be there in a minute bae_

 **My Sunshine - 7:15 AM:** _I haven't decided if you can call me bae yet or if I'm still angry at you._

 **Me - 7:16 AM:** _My everescent and wonderful star, I promise this was entirely Gray's fuck up_

 **My Sunshine - 7:16 AM:** _You can call me bae_

 **My Sunshine - 7:16 AM:** _For now_

Loke grinned at his phone before lifting his leg and kicking the bottom of Gray's bunk. Hopefully by his dumb head.

"We're going to Lucy's cabin and she's pissed so if you say anything stupid that makes her cry I'm throwing you in the lake myself." Loke called, grabbing his glasses from under his bunk. He'd deal with the contacts when the birds weren't still asleep.

"Fuck no," drifted from Gray's pillow, and Loke was utterly done with his best friend's bullshit.

"Fuck yes. You got yourself in this mess by keeping it from her and bae, it's time you reap what you sow." Loke said flatly, getting dressed quickly. He'd do his skincare routine later. Gray grunted, jumping from the bed in only his boxers, hair messed and glare deadly if not for Loke's done-ness with him so early in the morning. The got ready in silence, neither giving a farewell to the lump of blanket that was Gajeel. He'd really have to get Natsu's and his other bunkmate's numbers, that is if Natsu hadn't gotten eaten by a fucking wild cat.

Not that Loke was still harbouring ill wishes for the two furballs that he was being forced to live with.

Even if the blue one was adorable.

Loke contemplated if he was growing into a cat person during the otherwise painfully quiet walk to Lucy and Cana's cabin. Soft tapping sounds made Loke's left eye twitch, knowing the sound of Gray's growing anxiety and how close he was to either punching something or grabbing a smoke. Loke spoke when the sound of tapping and crunching of gravel grew to be too much, already pissed at having to skip his moisturizing routine. If he even saw so much as _one_ wrinkle or the hint of bags under his eyes he would smother Gray the first chance he got. "For someone who almost died from asthma you think filling your lungs with toxic tar smoke would be less appealing."

"You'd think with how _blind_ you are without your glasses you'd keep your nose out of your damn phone more. But I guess we're both dumbasses," Gray snapped, drumming out a quick and syncopated rhythm on his thigh. Like rolled his eyes, pulling out his phone to spite Gray. He tapped in the passcode, Freddie Mercury's birthday. There was no other bi icon that was as flamboyant and dazzling and talented, all aspects that Loke aspired to be. He scrolled through Twitter, keeping updated on all the gossip that had happened on a weeknight with the people from his school, music writing group, model agency. He was bored quickly, closing the app and flicking on Instagram. A message popped up on the top of his screen just as he double tapped a video of a pair of lion cubs playing, Loke smiling slightly when he saw who it was. He tucked the phone closer, glaring at Gray's half used cigarette in his mouth, red glow quick as it burned down the white stick.

 **Fluffball - 7:36 AM:** _Good morning :3_

 **Me - 7:36 AM:** _It is truly a good morning now that you have graced my phone with your attention. How did my heart sleep?_

 **Fluffball - 7:37 AM:** _Your flirting is much less convincing when I see you hit on anything that smiles at you, love_

 **Me - 7:38 AM:** _You wound me muffin._

 **Me - 7:38 AM:** _You know my eye may wander but my heart never will_

 **Fluffball - 7:40 AM:** _Uh huh. We've been best friends since we were two. I know when you full of poo_

 **Fluffball - 7:41 AM:** _But I love you anyway 3_

 **Fluffball - 7:41 AM:** _I have to go, those costumes won't fix themselves!_

 **Me - 7:42 AM:** _I'll see you at lunch?_

 **Fluffball - 7:43 AM:** _When have I ever missed a date?_

Loke smiled, fingers tapping along the side of his case as he read through their messages.

"God, I really don't want to die a virgin," Gray groaned. Loke lifted his head, brow raising as he watched his 'friend' twitch and grind the cigarette out with his heel, frozen in front of Lucy and Cana's cabin. He said 'friend' because real friends wouldn't drag Loke into this kind of bullshit before one PM, instead falling on his own sword gallantly and with grace.

"Shoulda taken up that red head's offer last May then," Loke said flatly. He knocked on the door, slipping his phone into his pocket and crossing his arms as he waited. Gray whined, and Loke sighed loudly, grabbing his collar. As if he'd let him run away.

Loke refused to face the wrath of Lucy alone.

The door flew open and revealed Lucy in all of her pajama and messy haired glory. She grabbed the front of Gray's collar, dragging him into the cabin with a deadly glare. Gray squeaked like a five year old girl. Loke wished he had recorded it. He sighed as he step into the cabin, identical to his own aside from girls clothes strewn on the railings of the bunks and several suitcases thrown open with make-up and hair products spilling from them. He lingered as he passed a small blue one that held some of the highest quality foundation he had seen, scowling when he recognized it as Ivory rather than the Nude or Flawless Natural, much too dark to pass for such a white colour. But maybe when he found the girl with this bag he could ask about her highlighters...

"I can't believe you didn't tell me!"

Oh, right, Lucy's world rocking revelation.

"I didn't think it was that important," Gray shrugged off. His hands were shoved in his pockets, face turned down and away from Lucy as he glared at a bright pink and polkadotted duffel bag. Loke snorted as he leaned against the bunk that Levy was sitting on top of. He shared a tired look with the short haired girl, hey eye bags looking as exhausted as Loke felt.

This was going to be the fucking opposite of fun.

"You didn't think my first _kiss_ was important?" Lucy shrieked. She paced several feet, hands switching from crossing and folding behind her back. He wondered if she'd gotten any sleep, which was a dumb thing to think about considering he knew how she got when something bothered her. Either it needed to be solved or destroyed, and Lucy would never cut of a friendship with someone. "Gray what the hell?"

"You were drunk!" He shouted, finally looking at her. "It wasn't your first kiss if you can't remember it, and I didn't think you two would ever see each other again."

"That was not your decision to make," Lucy hissed.

"I know I ain't exactly the queen of good decisions, but even I know that was fucked up dude," Cana interjected from where she sat on the bunk across from Loke, holding one of Lucy's plushies to her chest and resting her chin between the pink cat ears.

"And how would she have reacted if I'd told her she'd made out with a random stranger at a music festival while drunk off one of your special concoctions?" Gray asked sarcastically. Cana made a face at him and he growled, running both hands through his hair before fisting at the sides of it. "Lucy, you would have freaked out and been horrified. You'd have been miserable all through your exams and that would make you even _more_ stressed to shit. It wouldn't have been worth it."

"But it _wasn't your decision to make."_ Lucy said back, pushing each word through her teeth with emphasis. "And now he's here, and obviously _Natsu_ remembered our kiss."

"He wasn't supposed to be here!" Gray growled, tugging on his hair again before shoving his hands back into his jean pockets.

"Well he is! And so am I! And he must think I'm the worst for forgetting him! Or worse, what if he thought I was just ignoring him? What if he hates me now?" Lucy asked, voice growing smaller with each question, less yelling at Gray and more worrying out loud. She hugged herself, flannel sleep shirt pulling on the sleeves as it was stretched. Lucy buried her face in her hands, Loke pushing off his standing post in distress.

"O-oi," Gray called, hands hovering over her shoulders and all tense defensiveness leaving him. If anyone hated it more when Lucy cried than herself it would be Gray. The poor bastard could barely handle his own emotions, much less deal with someone so close's.

"Way to go dickface!" Cana called, glaring from her spot on Lucy's bed and shuffling over for the blonde to cuddle with her. "You made her cry!"

"I'm n-not crying," Lucy sniffled.

Loke shot the nastiest glare that he could at Gray, not even satisfied when he watched him pale and duck his head in shame. He returned to leaning on his post when Gray grabbed Lucy's arms and pulled her into a tight hug, Lucy pushing back for a second before hugging him fiercely. Loke smirked at Grays sharp grunt, Lucy punching him in the gut once before returning to holding him.

"No offence, Luce, but why are you so upset about a guy you barely know?" Gray asked, petting her head in the most natural way Loke had seen Gray show affection, went meant it was still stiff as fuck and somehow both awkward and endearing to watch happen.

"I'm more upset that you didn't tell me." Lucy mumbled, squeezing Gray tight enough to pull a grunt of pain from him. Her head twisted on his chest, Loke feeling ice crawl through his blood at her flat glare and watery gaze as she looked at him. "And don't think I didn't notice you lack of response to finding out I've had my first kiss either."

"Bae, it wasn't my place to butt in." Loke felt his smile falter the longer Lucy leveled him with her unconvinced glare.

"You mean you were waiting for it to blow up in Gray's face."

"Yes."

Loke shared a smirk with Cana, his other best friend cackling at his easy admittance.

"Thanks _bae_ ," Gray growled, setting his chin on top of Lucy's head. She'd pretend to be upset for the first few weeks Gray had realized he was tall enough to do that know, but everyone saw how much she smiled when he did it. Or rested his elbow on her shoulder. Lucy got back at him by painting his nails, either a nice colourful black or if Gray was in a good enough mood a deep, _deep_ , blue.

"He said it! Lucy, Gray said bae! Did you feel his heart thaw? Did it begin to beat like a normal human's again? Gray, tell me, how does it feel to _live_?"

Lucy snorted, burying her face in Gray's chest as he grumbled insults into her hair. He tensed suddenly, scowling down at Lucy when she turned her face back to Loke. "Nope, he's still our Tin Man."

"Juvia could check for Gray's pulse," Juvia squeaked, burying her face back into her blanket when Gray looked at her.

"I think we've got it covered Juvi, though I'm sure Gray here wouldn't mind getting a physic-"

"Cana," Levy sighed. Loke grinned up at her, pleased to see her standing up to the other girl. While friendly and awesome, Cana had a tendency to steamroll things, and Loke was relieved that it wouldn't just be Lucy having to keep her in check, God knew he and Gray were useless at corralling her.

Lucy sighed, tightness from her shoulders melting away as she continued to speak again, voice smaller than before and making Loke intently aware that easiness they'd brought back to the cabin was gone. "I guess I'm also upset that I forgot my first kiss. And he seems like such a nice guy too, to remember a random girl he met at a concert? I probably wasn't even his best kiss, all drunk and gross. I can't believe he'd even want to talk to me after I made such a fool out of myself in front of him."

"It is alright Lucy, your's and Natsu's kiss was Natsu's first kiss as well. Gajie was very concerned for his cousin that he had started to hallucinate such an event." Juvia said, smile kind and encouraging. Lucy wailed, turning into Gray's startled arms.

"That's worse!"

"That's what Natsu said," Loke grumbled. He didn't understand how any of this was a bad thing, they were obviously into one another, why not just get on with the fun part of dating and skip all the awkwardness?

"Lucy, it'll be fine," Cana soothed, staying in her spot on the bed and trusting Gray to not make things worse. "I'm sure he understands you were drunk, and didn't _mean_ to not recognize him. The dork doesn't seem the to type to hold grudges."

"I know what it's like to be forgotten. I never thought I'd turn out like my dad." Lucy mumbled, voice sounding tight again as she muffled it in Gray's -miraculously- clothed chest. Cana sobered instantly, sharing a heavy look with Loke as he pushed off from his leaning post.

"You're nothing like him, Lucy," Gray hissed. "Absolutely nothing."

She gave a weak laugh, and Loke's mouth twisted sourly at her disbelief of his words. Lucy was friendly and compassionate and outgoing, nothing like her prestige focused father. While they all knew he loved her, they knew Jude loved the idea of what he could turn Lucy into more. Another business person to lead the company, his little puppet and yes-man as he made more deals and gained more power. A pretty face to show to the outside world.

"A guy like Natsu wouldn't kiss ya if you were anything like Jude," Loke said, forcing a grin on as he continued speaking. "Too much mustache."

"What was he like this morning?"

Loke's heart lept to his throat the same time Gray whimpered, his joke passed unnoticed as Lucy turned the conversation back to the present. Neither were keen on telling Lucy they had lost the pink haired boy around midnight and he hadn't returned when they woke up. Cana had grown attached to the shy nerd, and Loke had to admit he had too, if not to the same extent as his alcoholic friend. There was just something about his bright smile and the impish glint he got in his eye when he laughed or made a snide comment, his fluffy hair reminding Loke of a duckling when he got rid of that damn beanie.

Loke didn't feel up to dealing with the man-hunt Cana would lead looking for the idiot.

"Uh," Loke drew out, ignoring Gray's panicked shaking of his head over Lucy's shoulder. "He wasn't exactly there when we got up..."

"Does Loke or Gray know where Natsu is?" A light and musical voice asked. Loke looked up at Juvia, her hair piled in a messy bun over her head, blankets pulled her to chin and making her a giant lump of ugly-washed-out-baby-blue that was the camp supplied blanket.

"Uhhhh," Gray said, helpfully.

"He's on the grounds?" Loke followed up. He tried to smile at end, cowering slightly under Lucy's loud squawk and Cana's glower.

"How do you lose a sixteen year old boy?" Levy asked. Loke looked at her, betrayed. They were literally on the same side of the room, how dare she turn on their unagreed alliance and bonding of sharing a look while Gray was an ass.

"We ain't his keepers," Gray mumbled, resting his chin on Lucy's head despite her trying to pull back to yell at them. "The bastard can walk around at midnight without us keepin' tabs on him."

"You let him wander around a camp in the middle of the woods at _midnight_ while he was _drunk_?" Lucy shrieked.

"Gray punched Natsu so hard he has a bruise!"

" _What the fuck dude?"_

Loke shrugged at Gray's aghast look. He wasn't going down without throwing a few friends under the bus. All was fair in love and not dying before legally going to a bar. Besides, he had a lunch date he couldn't miss.

"Gray!"

"Loke and Cana got him drunk, why aren't you yelling at them?" Gray barked. Loke brought a hand to his chest, offended that Gray would would do such a thing to him. Just because Loke would use him as a scapegoat doesn't mean Gray had to sink to the same level.

"Speaking of that," Lucy whirled on Loke. He held his hands up, paralyzed under her sharp look. "What did Natsu ever do to _you_ for you to be so mean?"

"I was helping him!" Loke gaped at her, looking at Cana for support. "He's just a major light weight! Gray said he hoped Natsu drowned when he left the cabin!"

Gray whined again as Lucy pulled from his arms, hands fisted on her hips as she glared at him like a mother might glare at a five year old she had caught drawing on the walls.

"I didn't _mean_ it," he defended sourly, pulling at the neck of his shirt. And then throwing it onto Lucy's bed. "He was being a prick! He just- that scene bastard gets under my skin with his stupid questions and dye job and stupid laugh."

"Natsu's hair is naturally rose," Juvia said. Loke sputtered, everyone twisting to look at Juvia in shock.

"How the fuck did that happen?" Cana asked, smiling in disbelief at the bottom of the bunk above her. Juvia shrugged, pulling the blanket up to cover her nose as all eyes remained trained on her. Loke wondered what her talent was if she was so stage shy. "I wonder if the curtain matches the drapes."

" _Cana!"_

Cana grinned and shrugged under the shouts by the rest of the room, reminding Loke of the time he had caught Gajeel's cat eating a kiwi of all things on Loke's bed. Pleased with themself and uncaring of Loke's outrage.

"Juvia would appreciate not talking about Gajie's cousin's genitals, please," Juvia said shyly, face bright red as she peeked above her blanket.

"I'm with Juvia," Levy said. "It's too early in the morning to talk about dicks."

"We're talking about Gray."

" _Dude!"_

Loke grinned at Gray's offended bark, smile brightening when he saw Lucy grin and giggle into her hand at Loke's insult of Gray. Being mean to Gray always made Lucy laugh if it wasn't _too_ harsh, especially because Gray always gave as good as he got. He was glad she was starting to calm down. He hated seeing her stressed.

"Does anyone have his number?" Lucy asked, hands fiddling in front of her and her gaze flicking anxiously between everyone.

"The boy's lost and you're trying to wheel him? Naughty naughty," Cana cooed. She squeezed the stuffed cat pillow to her in glee, eyes sparkling as she grinned at Lucy.

Lucy sputtered, pink coating her cheeks in a way Loke had to bite his tongue to stop himself from calling cute, knowing Lucy was not above stealing his phone and deleting all his selfies in this kind of mood. Not that Loke couldn't just take more, but sometimes the light was _just_ right and who was he to deny a hint of divine intervention?

"I- I'm just worried about him! Shut up!"

Loke sighed and walked over to Cana, laying on Lucy's bed and claiming her lap with his head.

"I don't know bae, you seem pretty keen," Loke teased.

"You seem pretty keen!" Lucy shot back, her arms crossed over her chest and her leg twitching in way it did when Lucy wanted to stomp her foot. Loke, Cana, and Gray had a running competition to see who could get Lucy to stomp her foot the most, and whoever won by the beginning of September got twenty bucks from the other two, each. And bragging rights.

"Great come back Lulu," Levy called. She smirked as Lucy turned her glare-slash-pout on her, blowing her a kiss and wink. Loke silently forgave Levy for the earlier betrayal.

"Juvia has texted Natsu, and he says he's fine aside from craving the sweet release of death. Or a nap. Natsu is undecided as of yet and says that it will be decided by if they're serving pancakes for breakfast and how much Love Rival remembers about last night. Oh, Natsu said not tell you that. Forget what Juvia just said, please!"

Loke looked around, confused.

"Who's 'Love Rival'?"

"It's what Juvi here calls Luce 'cus she thinks Lucy wants to jump Gray despite _clearly_ having a thing for natural pink-ettes or whatever the fuck his hair colour is called." Cana pet Loke's head as she talked, nodding sagely at his incredulous look.

"Those two are as likely to hook up as you and Bacchus." Loke laughed, Cana grinning widely at his comparison.

"What! No! Gross! I mean, Lucy's hot but like in a sister way where you ignore it and punch anyone who says it out loud! Not like... _that!_ Just... I mean... no." Gray spoke over himself, vehement in his denial while also trying not to insult Lucy. Loke wished he had got it on video, the raven haired boy's face darkening with heat the longer he stumbled on his words.

His hands twitched at his belt, and Loke was not in the mood for an 8 AM peep show.

"C'mon, lets go get some pancakes from the mess hall before they're all gone. And then I am heading back to my cabin to moisturize." Loke grunted as he sat up, throwing Gray's shirt at him. "Then we can all go and be awkwardly silent because Natsu and Lucy will refuse to make eye contact or resolve their love as we see who's been paired on the announcements board. I hope whoever I'm paired with is cute."

Lucy looked away, not denying Loke's comment as she kicked at a green slipper on the floor. Gray re-dressed. Juvia watched from between her fingers. Levy looked both amused and fed up with all the yelling in her cabin.

"Juvia hopes they have blackberry."

"You and me both sister," Cana said, clinking her favourite flask to the side of the bed before taking a heavy sip.

Well, at least the day looked like it was going to be a lot more fun than the morning had promised.

* * *

 **A/N: Finally an update! We really hope you enjoy this chapter and the updated playlist, the link to which can be found of not-just-any-fangirl's tumblr postings of the fic! I would post it on here but will have none of it. Thanks so much for the reviews so far, we really enjoy reading them and hearing your thoughts!**

 **Much Love,**

 **-HN & NJAF**


	7. Don't Delete The Kisses

**Chapter Seven: Don't Delete The Kisses**

 _When I see you, the whole world reduces_

 _To just that room_

 _And then I remember and I'm shy that gossip's eye will look too soon_

Lucy was a bundle of nerves as she walked into the cafeteria that morning. She paid no attention to the fifty people long queue for pancakes as Cana and Juvia rushed off to join it. Instead she scanned the room for a shock of pink hair.

Natsu was sat in the back corner of the room, adjusting his beanie to cover his wonderful hair a moment after she'd noticed it. He didn't look up from the notebook he was hunched over and intently scribbling in as Lucy noted the rest of the table was empty, and his breakfast tray lay untouched in front of him.

"Oh god," She moaned, "He hasn't eaten his pancakes."

Behind her, Gray sighed. Loke stepped forward and offered her a tentative pat on the shoulder.

"There, there, sweetness. Maybe they just gave him the wrong toppings?"

Lucy nodded, but she didn't believe it. The few times they'd eaten with Natsu he'd always had the biggest appetite out of all of them. She even remembered Gajeel complaining to her about how he always eats all the pigs-in-blankets at Christmas before he can even get to his cousin's house. If he had no interest in food he was clearly upset.

"I am the worst person." She whispered to herself.

"Stop being so fucking dramatic," Gray huffed, "You just need to explain the situation and apologise."

" _I_ need to explain the situation?" Lucy whirled on him, "How about _we_ explain the situation? Y'know, since this is partially your fault?"

Gray was never one to show much emotion, but she could tell by the slumped set of his shoulders that he still felt a little guilty. But whatever guilt Gray felt was nothing compared to her own- poor Natsu must think she was pretending not to know him this whole time. He probably thought she was a completely horrible person by now.

Lucy shook her head to ward of the thoughts. It didn't matter what he'd come to think of her. If he thought she was horrible she'd just have to change his mind, and that all started with telling him the truth.

She grabbed hold of Gray's wrist and dragged him to the rear of the cafeteria where Natsu was sitting. Gray didn't fight her. She knew it was more likely he was willing to apologise to Natsu more for Lucy's sake than for any offence towards his cabin-mate, but at least he was trying.

When they reached his table, Natsu didn't look up from his notebook. He was tapping out a beat with his pen on the table, his brows furrowed deep in thought at the scrawl covering the page of his notebook that was slightly too messy for Lucy to read upside down. For a second her stomach churned at the thought he was deliberately ignoring them, but she reassured herself he was just immersed in his work before finally gathering the courage to speak. She caught sight of a patch of his jaw yellowed and tender looking, Gray holding his hands up in surrender at Lucy's sharp look. She turned back to Natsu, who was still oblivious to their approach, and took in a deep breath before speaking.

"Natsu."

The boy in question looked up from his work in surprise. The second he realised who had spoken his cheeks turned pink.

"Heya Lucy." His gaze turned to Gray, "Popsicle."

Before Gray could come up with an epithet of his own Lucy cut in.

"Natsu, we need to talk. Can I sit down?"

Natsu groaned, the pink of his blush turning almost stop-sign red.

"Lucy, I am so sorry. I wasn't thinking I-"

"What? Natsu, you have nothing to be sorry for. If anyone here should be apologising it's me. And Gray."

"Really?" Natsu's eyebrows shot up, "I know Gray should really apologise for burdening us all with his existence, but what do you have to be sorry for?"

Lucy glanced to Gray, who was visibly trying to restrain himself from retorting to Natsu's jab. It was probably best she do the talking.

She sat down across the table from Natsu, with Gray reluctantly sinking down beside her. Natsu closed his notebook and placed it on his lap out of the way.

"You went to 'Rock On In Hargeon' right at the beginning of the summer, right?"

"Right." Natsu fidgeted awkwardly.

"Well, so did we. With Loke and Cana, obviously. And you know what Cana is like-"

"So you were drunk when you kissed me, I know. Ice Princess said you never would have otherwise. It's probably the only time he's ever been right in his whole life."

Natsu avoided her eyes as he spoke. His words squeezed at her heart, and for a second it was painful to breathe. She hated it that Natsu thought so low of himself. She hated it even more that she had unwittingly contributed to that feeling.

"Don't sell yourself short, loser," Gray rolled his eyes, "If she thought you were good-looking with drunk goggles on, imagine how great you look when she's sober. Assuming she has her contacts in of course and you're not just a vague pink blur."

"I've had my contacts in this whole time I'll have you know and I think he's _better_ than good-looking."

Lucy caught herself a second too late, her last reserves of anger at Gray making her too desperate to come up with a witty retort for his compliment-but-masked-as-an-insult-because-I-can't-show-any-emotion-too-positive-or-I-will-be-in-violation-of-the-emo-handbook. Gray was emitting positive emotion however as his lips quirked upwards at Lucy's misstep. He glanced towards Natsu to gage the other boys reaction and Lucy followed his gaze.

Natsu had gone stop-sign red again, but this time his eyes were wide with surprise, and the hint of a smile played on his lips.

"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is," Lucy fumbled to recover, "That I wasn't pretending not to know you this whole time. I just didn't remember you, or the kissing, or most of the festival actually…"

"And that's my fault." Gray admitted, "Not the not remembering the festival part- that was Cana's-but her not knowing you. I never told Lucy about the kiss. I didn't want her to be embarrassed about throwing herself at strangers."

At that, Lucy felt her own cheeks burning.

"And I am so sorry about that-"

"Don't worry, you didn't throw yourself at me." Natsu interrupted, "You just fell on me."

"Fell on you?"

"Yeah." Natsu chuckled, but his smile soon turned shy, "And as for the kiss… don't worry about it. It was… it was my first too and it was actually, uh, pretty great. Amazing actually."

Her blush intensified. Beside her, Gray made a retching sound.

"Alright, I'm clearly done here." Gray motioned vaguely with his hands to them as he stood, "I'm off to get pancakes. Feel free to join after you two have y'know… furthered the plot or whatever."

Gray walked off, leaving the two of them in silence, both blushing too furiously to pluck up the courage to look at one another. Natsu leant his elbows on the table, his fingers fiddling with a guitar pick as he waited for Lucy to break the silence it seemed.

"So… you don't hate me then? You don't think I'm a terrible person."

Natsu smiled softly.

"I never hated you. And I don't think you have it in you to be terrible at anything, to be honest.

Lucy laughed lightly.

"I'm still sorry. I know I wouldn't have felt so great if our roles were reversed. I'd probably overthink myself crazy."

"I almost did." He admitted, rubbing his neck sheepishly. "I should apologise too. I can't imagine my performance at karaoke was that great if it triggered such a traumatic memory."

Lucy swatted at him playfully.

"It wasn't a traumatic memory. From what I remember it was… were you shirtless?"

Natsu groaned.

"Yeah. It was a hot day."

"Yeah, really hot. But, uh, you know. Falling into some shirtless guy's arms is the dream of most girls."

"I highly doubt they picture my face in those dreams."

"Some might." She tried for a laugh, but it feel sort as her face overheated.

Natsu glanced away bashfully. She spotted a smile a smile on his face however, and when his eyes finally met hers again, they were bright with amusement. And something she desperately hoped was a growing confidence.

"And as for your performance," She continued, "I've never been serenaded before. It was quite the experience. Good song choice by the way."

Natsu dropped his head onto the table, his groans of shame absolutely pitiful. Lucy stifled a laugh.

"I can't believe I did that."

"I will admit, after already encountering the effects of Cana's notorious flask, I'm surprised you had a go at it yourself."

"She said it was a good cure for stage fright. I figured it couldn't hurt but clearly, I was wrong."

"Well, despite your method, your performance was amazing. You had most of the crown on their feet."

"I don't know why. Singing isn't really my forte."

Lucy reached out and took his hand, the pick that flitted between his fingers falling onto the table. He looked at her painted finger-tips as though it were an alien hand come to take him to another world. The touch sent sparks racing up her arm, but she held her grip firm.

"Doesn't matter if it's not your forte, you're good at it Natsu. You should have more confidence in yourself."

Natsu avoided her eyes, but his hand squeezed hers in return.

"Confidence doesn't really come easy to someone like me."

"What do you mean someone like you?" She asked lightly, "What sort of person do you think you are Natsu?"

She could see a hundred thoughts swirling inside him. His mouth twisted in a way that made her think he was desperate to tell her- to tell _somebody_ \- but he just couldn't set them free.

He withdrew her hand from hers.

"I'm sure you'll figure that out for yourself," He smiled weakly, "If you still want to be friends that is."

Lucy looked down at her hand, the one she'd reached out to Natsu. There was no trace of him there other than the lingering warmth. She looked back up at him to find him watching her nervously, as though he were afraid she would turn round and shout _no! Never speak to me again!_

She offered him the brightest smile she could muster. It seemed to perk him up a little, but she could see still the worry in his eyes.

"Of course. Friends."

* * *

Levy rested her head on the table, even the sounds of the busy cafeteria unable to keep her eyes open. Her tummy was full of pancakes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, her cabin mates weren't sending silent death vibes or pacing around in the dark, and the wood tabletop was making a surprisingly comfy pillow on her forehead. Maybe she'd be able to recover a few precious hours of sleep before the first week assignments would be posted...

"Oi, is Shrimp here dead or somethin'?"

Levy scowled, both at the nickname and how her heart skipped a beat at hearing his voice. Stupid, dumb, musclehead and his stupid arms and stupid laugh and-

"Oi," Gajeel said again, pushing a finger into her head a couple times. "Shrimp, I don't think it'd be the best idea to fall asleep where my cousin could find ya with a sharpie."

That stupid nickname.

Levy lifted her head, scowling as best she could while craning her neck to look at him.

"For the record, I'll break Natsu's pen and then smear it all over his dumb face if he so much as tries to draw cat whiskers on me," Levy hissed, stabbing a stray strawberry for emphasis, keeping her gaze levelled with Gajeel's dark and amused one. "And secondly, if you'd had to have spent the night dealing with Lucy and Cana then you'd be exhausted too."

"I spent the night dealing with Gray and Natsu. You wanna bet your girls are worse than my chucklefuck bunkmates?" Gajeel snorted, dropping his tray heavily to the table and claiming the spot to her left. Levy glared half heartedly. She had been meaning to save the spots for Jet and Droy, but she figured they'd want to spend some time with their own bunkmates, Max and Warren. At least, she hoped so.

"Fair," Levy sighed. She drew a smiley face on her plate in the syrup, using a strawberry to smear it and return it to the shapeless blood of strawberry flavoured liquid sugar. She looked over at Gajeel's plate, a stack of five pancakes loaded with enough whipped cream to make her cavities ache. Sniffing, Levy leaned closer, narrowing her eyes at the plate of food as she finally picked out the fruit she thought might be on his. A piece of green fruit with black seeds and a white core slid out from under the pile of whipped cream. "Really? Kiwi?"

"It's a good fruit," Gajeel glared at her. He ripped open a packet of apple syrup with his teeth and poured it over his pancakes. Levy wasn't sure if she was horrified at his taste or unimpressed with his dramatics. She was stopped from commenting on it by Cana slamming a bottle of -uncorrupted- orange juice on the table.

"Alright folks, now that those two both understand what happened in their special moment it's time to start taking bets on when they'll figure out why they can't stop thinking about the other in the shower." Cana announced, somehow loud but not drawing attention from more than a table or two away. "Dates start in a week, who thinks they're gonna get their shit together like functional human beings?"

"Firstly," Loke drawled, finding a spot on the other side of Levy, "you don't need to be so crude. I don't think Gajeel here is too eager to imagine what his baby cousin thinks about in the shower."

"The walls are thin at home. Trust me, I don't need to use no fuckin' imagination."

Levy cringed at Gajeel's flat voice, his eyes hollow as he sneered at his food, shoving his fork into it hard enough that Levy thought he was trying to stab the memory itself.

"Tragic." Loke said without a glance at Gajeel's direction. "Secondly, I don't think you're one to talk about functional human beings."

"I never said I was one," Cana grinned at him, sitting on the table and taking a swig of her juice.

"And _thirdly_ , put me down for the summer solstice night thing. It's gonna take them at _least_ a month to hook up."

"Now hold on," Levy asked, lifting her fork to point between Cana and Loke, "Are we talking dating or hooking up. Because those are very different things and I won't be cheated of my winnings by some technicality."

"Hmm, I'm gonna say they kiss once in like three weeks and then are super awkward and don't date for another week or two," Cana said, nodding wisely to herself. "But no, must be full dating for you to win."

"What are we betting," Gray sighed, his voice worn like someone who had to deal with Cana and Loke's plans on a regular basis would be; warily accepting and without the energy to fight it.

"When those two idiots are gonna accept they _looove_ one another," Loke sang, scooting over and making room for Gray. Levy's thigh brushed Gajeel's under the table and she jerked back, face heating as she stared at her plate pointedly. Levy firmly believed in personal bubbles, and she had a feeling Gajeel would be the type of guy to appreciate it. She knew she could get carried away, Levy was still mortified that she had grabbed his arm so casually that first day, but _thighs_ under a _table_... Levy bit her lip and forced herself to pay attention to the conversation surrounding her again.

"Obviously," Gray grunted, halfheartedly rolling his eyes. "I mean what are we putting in the pot for the winner. Which will be me, because that pink haired dumbass isn't gonna push himself on Lucy, and none of ya know her as well as I do. They don't get together until the end of camp."

"The buy in is five bucks and the one who eats it the worst has to sing a song to the winner," Cana grinned at Gray, sharp and challenging. It was clear that she expected to win, and was expecting Gray to be the furthest from winning. Levy almost didn't want to know what song Cana would pick out if she was right.

"I say sixth week. Give Strawberry a chance to realize how miserable he is without her during the break and Bunny Girl enough time to be worn down by his pathetic puppy dog eyes." Gajeel said. The table was silent for a moment before Cana whooped at his involvement, pulling a pen and paper for _somewhere_ and marking his time down beside a 'Ga'. She filled in the rest of their bets, grin wide to herself and humming a familiar tune under her breath. She tapped along with the pen beside the names when she was done, Levy smiling when she remembered that Cana was said to be one of the best drummers at the camp.

"Put me down for third week. I think they're cute together." Levy smiled before looking over her shoulder at where Lucy and Natsu sat several tables down. They kept blushing and looking away from one another, reminding Levy of two kindergarteners rather than teenagers. She felt a pang of envy at their giddy and nervous energy, both unsure of the other but unwilling to walk away. She knew Jet and Droy had a crush on her -maybe _loved_ her- but all she felt for them was sibling love.

"Alright, all we need is Juvia and then a few other-" Cana cut off as she whipped her pen at Gray, hitting him squarely in the forehead.

"Oi!"

"LOOK AT THAT THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS."

All heads whipped around, the table obvious in their gawking at the pair a distance away. And indeed, Lucy's hand was in Natsu's, her smile shy and her head dipped so she looked at Natsu from her lashes, Natsu beet red and his whole body slowly leaning into the middle of the table, almost as if gravity was pulling him closer to her.

Loke spoke up, eyes quick as they snapped between Cana and the love birds. "I'm saying two weeks. Look at that. They're basically having sex on Natsu's pancakes."

Levy nodded, unable to help her grin at one of her bunkmates and a quickly developing best friend. Lucy looked happy, and Levy felt the seed of jealousy melt away at that fact.

"What is Juvia supposed to be part of?" A confused voice asked. Levy took her eyes off the pair to look at Juvia claiming a spot beside Cana's calf, her two pancakes covered in a mountain of blue and blackberries.

"Look over there Juvia and tell us what you see." Cana gestured towards the opposite end of the cafeteria.

Levy watched Juvia as she stood up a little to properly see where Natsu and Lucy was sitting. The girl's smile lit up in an instant, her grin almost mischievous.

"It appears that Lucy will not be a love rival after all."

Juvia sat back down and tucked into her pancakes, unaware of the confused glances of her friends.

"Look at that moron," Gray scoffed, seemingly paying no mind to Juvia's strange words, "His face is practically as pink as his hair."

"Why does he always cover it up anyway?" Loke mused, "It's such a rosy pink."

"The kids got issues." Was Gajeel's curt reply.

Levy could have sworn she detected defensiveness in his tone. He acted like he didn't care, but she knew Gajeel would be the first to throw a punch if anyone other than him bad-mouthed his cousin.

"Oh oh oh, he's retracting the hand." Cana motioned dramatically, shifting forward so far Levy was sure she'd fall off the table.

"A mistake." Loke tutted, despite the fact he was more concerned with checking his pores in the front camera of his phone rather than the brewings of a love story across the cafeteria. Levy stifled a laugh as he prodded at the flawless skin under his eye, scowling into the camera.

"What does this all even _mean._ " Gray sighed.

Levy laughed at his inability to understand real human emotion before turning in her seat to watch the show. She couldn't quite see Lucy's face from this angle, but she was certain the girl was looking down at her hand. And Natsu- poor, sweet, love-struck Natsu- was looking at her the way they always wrote about in those cheesy romance books she refused to admit to reading.

"It means true love is a fickle thing Natsu and Lucy are destined to fight for. Juvia believes love is worth fighting for, do you not, Gray?" Juvia sighed, her chin sinking into her hands as her gaze pierced through Gray. Levy met Gajeel's smirk as Gray literally began to thaw, face turning pink and his throat clearing awkwardly. He shrugged noncommittally, suddenly focused intently on his pancakes.

"Don't scare him off, hun, don't you know Gray can only handle one dose of happy emotions before noon?" Cana cooed, patting Juvia's shoulder. The musical major's shoulder slumped, lip wobbling in defeat as she poked at her pancakes with much less enthusiasm. She didn't even swat at Cana when she stole a blackberry, though Levy thought that might be the girl's calm and giving disposition rather than her sadness.

Levy looked back over her shoulder, gaping at what she saw.

She slapped at Gajeel's arm, not stopping at his squawking as she tried to get her excitement out in the least attention grabbing way. "She's eating his food. You guys! You _guys_ Lucy's _eating Natsu's food_."

"What?!"

"There's no fuckin' way that dipshit ain't hoarding his pancakes like some kinda addict."

"I want to change my bet!"

"Juvia would like to double down on three weeks before Love Rivals are officially no longer her rivals."

"Ohhh, I'm so gonna win this," Levy squealed. She kept her eyes glued on Lucy playfully stealing a piece of his pancakes again, Natsu's grin wide as he pretended to try and stop her. He used his pen when she went in for a raspberry, the two mocking a sword fight and giggling with one another.

"This is more obscene than if they _were_ having sex," Gray scowled, corner of his lip twitching up despite his disgusted tone.

"It's true love!" Cana crowed. "Look at that! Boys don't share food unless they're gonna get married! OH MY GOD GONNA THEY'RE GONNA GET HITCHED. I CALL MAID OF HONOUR!"

"Does Juvia get to be a bridesmaid?" Juvia asked, perking up at the mention of weddings. Levy smothered a laugh at Gajeel's suffering sigh, both knowing who Juvia would claim for dance practice, no matter how impossible an actual wedding happening would be. He scowled at her. Levy stole one of his kiwis. She stuck her tongue out at his deepened glare, his mouth falling open in shock. Levy saw a glint of silver flash on his tongue, but quickly diverted _that_ train of thought.

She looked over her shoulder at where Natsu and Lucy were when Loke whistled low, the sound a warning of trouble like when someone got called to the principles' office in school.

Lucy and Natsu were both staring at the table, bright red and pissed off. Lucy stood quickly, smiling at Natsu shyly before running off -and sending a gesture with her hand directed towards the table that made Levy raise her eyebrows. Natsu grabbed his book and plate of food after a minute, slowly making his way towards their table.

Levy turned back to her pancakes trying her best to look innocent, as did everyone else. Except Cana, who most likely was overjoyed at being caught spying- though she did hide the book of bets by tucking it into her bra. Levy frowned, wondering how Cana got away with just wearing a loose netted top that ended before her ribs did, blue bra -or bikini- basically being showed off, considering the camp dress code was very clear on what was and wasn't appropriate.

"Whatchu guys lookin' at?" Natsu asked, smug tone despite his sneer and narrowed eyes.

"True love," Juvia sighed. Cana and Loke barked out a laugh as Natsu turned a deep red. He pulled his beanie lower so his hair was covered more fully and scoffed, looking away.

"You must have been watching Loke and his reflection then." He retorted a beat too late.

"I can't believe I fretted over you," Loke sniffed.

"He has a point," Gray smirked, taking a bite of his pancakes and lifting a smug eyebrow at Loke's pout.

"E tu, bae?" Loke gasped. He pouted at the table's laughter, turning back to his phone with a grunt. Natsu and Gray shared a knowing smirk before realizing they weren't actively hating one another and looking away pointedly. Levy felt relief wash over her as the group returned to it's regular, but less-than-functional, dynamic. All that was left was-

"Yes Natsu, what _was_ happening over there?"

Erza.

All of Natsu's colour drained as he fell into his seat beside Juvia. He squeaked, refusing to look away from his pancakes. Levy couldn't help her grin as she noted that the only bite taken had been from Lucy. "Nothin'." Natsu said between his teeth. Erza slid into the place beside Natsu, placing her hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"It didn't look like 'nothin'," she said. Levy met her eyes, happy to see amusement flicker in Erza's deep brown gaze before she turned back to a mortified looking Natsu. "It looked like you might have been _flirting_ with a certain blonde haired girl. I can't remember the last time you shared food with anyone but Happy."

"We ain't flirtin'. We're just friends," Natsu defended weakly. He stabbed his pancakes and lifted one whole, losing part of the fruit and whipped cream as it slid back onto his plate. He got a bite in before Erza slapped his hand. He met her narrowed eyes with his own glare before sighing and cutting off a quarter of the pancake with his fork and shoving it in his mouth. Erza nodded, pleased with his action, and Levy was awed at how easy their interaction felt. She knew first hand how... _much_ , Erza could be, but watching the scene before her was like watching an overprotective and strict big sister lecture her suffering baby brother. The scene was only strengthened when Natsu spoke with his mouth half full and indifferent to Erza's disgusted curled lip. "Lucy only likes me as a friend, so that's all we're gonna be."

The table groaned at his obliviousness, Natsu swallowing and squawking in confusion, looking at Levy for answers. She looked at him flatly before putting a much more reasonably sized cut of food in her mouth. "I wish you wouldn't sell yourself so short Natsu," Erza sighed, squeezing her shoulder. "You have much to offer, and that Lucy seems like a sweet girl. Don't resign yourself to a fate that hasn't yet happened." Natsu flushed, a hint of hopefulness lifting the corner of his mouth as he looked at Erza. "Though I will remind you that any _inappropriate_ meetings between campers will have repercussions."

"Erza!" Natsu objected, choking on his shout. Juvia squeaked loudly, Gray and Gajeel made their own noises of disgust while Cana nearly fell off the table she laughed so hard. Erza held up her hands in surrender, playful smile brightening her face but her gaze warning underneath her teasing.

"I'll leave you be while I help Mira set up the lists. Be sure to be at the announcement board twelve thirty sharp." With that Erza walked off, leaving the group to leer at Natsu, the boy himself flushing and groaning in embarrassment.

"I can't believe _Erza_ was the one to give you the talk," Loke chortled. "I was looking forward to doing that. Maybe I'll slip Lucy one of my condoms and watch her face go through the five stages of grief."

Levy choked on her drink, feeling milk come out her nose. She whined in pain while the table began to laugh again, even Juvia unable to hide her giggles behind her hand. She glared at Gajeel through her watery vision, his head thrown back as he cackled at her. His lip ring caught on the light, eyes pinched shut and full lashes pressed to his cheeks. Levy felt her heart lurch into her throat. She ignored the feeling, stabbing four more pieces of kiwi from his plate and shoving them in her mouth, ignoring her burning airway the same way she was ignoring her emotions. The apple syrup tasted disgusting on the tart fruit but Levy swallowed, pleased when Gajeel sneered at her for stealing his fruit. It was his own fault for laughing at her.

Juvia pushed several pieces of fruit from her plate onto Gajeel's, blueberries rolling in his whipped cream and syrup. Levy pouted, and Juvia smiled at her sweetly before discreetly winking at her. A blush burned her cheeks at Juvia's knowing look and encouraging smile, her innocent facade replaced immaculately.

"Rain woman loves me," Gajeel grunted, grin mocking as he looked at Levy.

"Are you saying _Levy_ should love you too, Gajeel?" Natsu asked impishly, obviously pleased at no longer being the center focus. His eyes danced when Gajeel tripped over his words, flustered. He settled on glaring silently, an aura of death radiating from him.

"Juvia agrees with Natsu. Does Gajie wish Levy to share her fruit with him?"

"I think he wants her to share more than _fruit_ , if ya know what I mean."

"Cana could you not make everything sexual, once in your life?"

"But Gray, where's the fun in that?" Cana cooed, subtly stealing a fingerful of whipped cream from Gray's plate. Levy raised her face from out of her hands, glaring at the table. Gajeel was more coloured than Natsu's hair, which had begun to peek out from under his beanie.

"Juvia wishes to place a bet. Put me down for Gajie and Levy for a month and two weeks." Juvia said, looking at Cana intently. The brunette blinked twice before a large grin broke across her face. She took out the bet book and wrote down Juvia's date.

"I knew you were my type of girl, Juvi!"

"Oi!" Gajeel shouted, betrayed.

"What're you guys talkin' 'bout?" Natsu asked, looking around in confusion. Levy whined pitifully and buried her face back in her hands. She knew she should have saved those spots for Jet and Droy.

* * *

 _All around her was a sea of people, and she was on a boat far, far above them, with a special view of the stage. Her own little personal view! Lucy giggled at the idea- that the band was performing just for her. Where did the band go anyway? Maybe if she yelled loud enough they would come back on. Lucy took in a breath and screamed at the top of her lungs, her shout soon turning into laughter._

" _Oi, be quiet up there will you? I've got enough noise in my ears without adding your squealing to it," snapped the young man whose shoulders she sat on. He was so strong. Strong Gray. Silly Gray! How else was the band supposed to come out if they didn't hear her scream? Lucy didn't trust her mouth though, the drink Cana had given her made her tongue feel fuzzy. Well, it was more than one drink now, maybe two, three at most. Either way, Gray was still silly. Lucy ought to tell him that._

 _She tapped the top of his head, prompting the raven haired boy to look up at her -at such a funny angle Lucy had to giggle- and glower slightly._

" _What?" he barked out at her._

 _Lucy pouted down at him and stuck out her tongue._

" _Gray," she said in as serious as a voice as she could muster, "You're silly."_

" _And you're cut off." Gray said while rolling his eyes and turning his head back to the stage. Lucy stuck out her tongue at him again, hoping a part of him would feel her mocking him, and looked back at the stage too. Bored by the empty stage, Lucy looked around at all the other people that were on their friends shoulders. They were little boats too! She was part of an arsenal of boats meant to cheer on the musicians! Really, another band should be coming out soon, it was quite rude to keep her and all her other boat friends waiting. Maybe they were waiting for Lucy to make more noise! This time she took in an even deeper breath and raised her hands off of her thighs so she could wave them above her head. They felt heavier than usual, but Lucy didn't really care as she continued shouting, imagining the band was still performing._

 _They were definitely waiting for Lucy to make more noise._

" _Oi, what did I just say? If you keep squirming around up there I'll drop you." Gray shouted up at her, not even bothering to lift his head in her direction._

" _Graayyy," She whined, partially out of breath from her latest scream, which was quite impressive if Lucy would say so herself. "you're my friend, and friends don't drop friends."_

" _Yeah well friends don't give friends back problems either; you're heavy and I'm putting you down."_

" _Are not!"_

" _Are too."_

" _Nope," Lucy giggled and put her hands back up, looking at the stage again. Suddenly she felt a shift under her butt and then the stage was being replaced by the afternoon sky. She couldn't see all her other boat friends now. Lucy realized she was also falling, but her other boat friends seemed more important. She really should be bracing for the ground now, she was sure to hit any second. Was she screaming? The sea was so loud she couldn't really tell. Mean Gray._

 _All thoughts of boats and mean Grays left her head as Lucy collided with a soft object and finally hit the ground with a very undignified 'oomph'._

 _Lucy let out a low groan as she stayed on top of her very comfy cushion. It was probably a person. Lucy had probably just crushed some poor innocent soul with her falling. Now her head was against this poor innocent soul's chest - a man she realized from the shirtlessness - and she really ought to move. Lucy lifted her head to look down at her saviour, and realized that she just crushed a god. Sun kissed skin was pulled tightly over muscles across his chest and arms. A strong jaw and a straight nose, not to mention cheekbones that should be worshipped themselves. And beautiful dark, slanted eyes. Were those more of an olive or an onyx colour? Lucy couldn't tell right now. But those indescribable eyes were staring up at her so widely that he looked like a puppy. A puppy God. Lucy had to giggle at the thought that she had just crushed a puppy God._

 _The strange Puppy God's face turned red and he shot up to his feet quickly, pulling at a strange white scarf around his neck. It was much too warm to being wearing a scarf, although he wasn't wearing a shirt so Lucy decided that it made sense. Lucy realized that he had a hand extended down to her and was shyly smiling at her. His smile was cute. Cute Puppy God. Lucy took his hand and let her haul him up. Looking up at him she was finally able to see his hair. Pink._

 _Her Cute Puppy God had pink hair._

 _Of course he would, he was adorable like that, her Cute Puppy God. Was it dyed? His eyebrows were pink too though, so maybe it was natural? If it was natural then that could only mean that... No, Lucy shook her head slightly, mentally berating herself. Cana was having far too much of an influence on Lucy's poor innocent mind. Looking back at the boy's face she realized that he was apologizing. This boy was apologizing to her after she had fallen on him and then thought about his... Bad Lucy!_

" _No, no, no," Lucy smiled at him and waved her hands in a shooing motion, "Don't be sorry! It was Gray's fault. He's so meeeean."_

 _Lucy felt her smile fall off her face as she thought about Gray. He wasn't Strong Gray, he was Mean Gray. Stupid Gray. All thoughts of Stupid Gray flooded from her mind again as she saw a smirk pull at his face, taking over his shy smile. Lucy definitely liked the smirk more, it added a mischievous light to his eyes. Was that a slight fang she saw peeking out from his grin? No way could that be real. Although it would fit her smirking Puppy God. She smiled again at the thought of her new pet name for this mystery boy. Puppy God. She should thank him, but how? Lucy bit at her lip as she thought about it, and took in more of his face. Oh, she knew!_

 _Stepping closer, Lucy put a hand on his chest, and most certainly not because she had been dying to touch him since they had stood up. No sir, she was a good girl after all. Letting out a soft 'thanks' Lucy raised herself onto her tip toes so that she could reach his face and press a soft kiss into his right cheek. She pulled back slowly, allowing herself time to drink in the sight of his face. He had on such a, a_ bewildered _expression that Lucy couldn't contain how cute her Puppy God was._

" _You know," she said out loud as her eyes traced his wild hair. He really could use a brush, or her hands running through it right now, "You're pretty cute."_

 _She didn't wait for a response as she leaned in again and pressed her lips against his warm ones. She wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to pull her body closer to his as she felt him pull her close as well. She'd never done this before, but her books always mentioned something about tongues. Cana did too, but Lucy felt it was a bit too soon for her to put anything Cana had told her to practice._

 _Pushing her tongue against the seam of his mouth, Lucy was a bit surprised by how easily he opened up for her. Feeling brave, she started to explore his mouth with her own tongue when she felt him start to prod at her mouth with his own. His tongue was much more forceful than hers had been and she let him take control, feeling warm pressed up to him as he pulled her even closer against his shirtless body. She lifted a hand and played with the hair at the nape of his neck, and Lucy was certain that it was not the alcohol making her this warm, but this boy. This boy and his rough hands on the small of her back, his warm lips moving against her own, his hot tongue that kept delving into her own mouth. But just as she was reaching to twine her hand more solidly into his soft, pink hair, the warmth was gone and an arm wrapped around her waist was dragging her away._

* * *

Lucy picked up her speed as she walked from her cabin to the showers, hanging her head in embarrassment.

"I can't believe I called him Puppy God," she mumbled to herself.

She kept playing the memory in her head, unsure of the extent to which Lucy was remembering Natsu's hotness without his shirt was accurate or if her drunk mind was embellishing it. She wondered where that cocky smirk from the festival had gone, only hints and glimpses of it flashing through in the few days she had known him. The karaoke night had been most like the other version of him, loud and wild and so overwhelming Lucy couldn't help but lose herself in him- in _his performance_ , she corrected herself quickly. He hadn't looked drunk at the festival, though Lucy was unsure given her own _compromised_ thoughts.

Lucy brushed her fingers over her lips, the memory bringing phantom sensations to her; the heat of his mouth against hers, the taste of citrus pop when his tongue had brushed against hers, the feeling of his arms around her and his hands pressed to the bare skin of her back.

"Stop thinking like that! You two agreed on being friends and that's all!" Lucy hissed to herself, shouldering open the door to the shower building just between the loop of cabins and the outdoor activity area, the building two storied with a pool on the main level and the showers and washrooms above. Lucy sighed as she breathed in the smell of chlorine and looked through the glass barrier between the entrance hall and the pool itself.

It was fairly small, only ten meters across and barely twice that in length, but it made up for it by the diving boards, the highest of the four nearly two stories high. Musical notes and inspired designs littered the white and seafoam green tiled walls in mosaics, the splash of colour matches to the lining of the pool itself. Lucy marveled at how rich the camp must be to afford all of its equipment and facilities, the slide on the left corner beside the diving boards as tall as the top platform, a steady stream of water spilling from the yellow lip at the bottom, a Fairy Tail insignia stamped on the bright plastic midway up in white. Lucy loved the design, something whimsical while still in the shape of a bird like figure, beak curling towards its talons facing right, two streaks of a profile wing lined up with the swoop of its tail to the left.

Lucy carried on, taking the stairs that led to the showers above two at a time, her fluffy pink towel draped over her arm and her shower bag in the other. She hadn't showered since arriving, and Lucy was looking forward to not feeling gross, and it had nothing to do with suddenly being worried about how limp her hair looked in front of a certain boy.

Lucy's face fell into a scowl as she pushed the door open with her shoulder, trying to out dumb thoughts like that out of her head.

"Well we'll see about that at the performance. _You're_ not the ones who don't need _me._ " The door was yanked from under Lucy's weight and she stumbled forward, colliding with something soft.

"Get off me!" The same voice as before snarled, a hand pressed to Lucy's arm and shoving her away. She fell, yelping as her tailbone met with the concrete floor of the washroom. Lucy glared at the person who had shoved her, paling under the other girls deadly look. Long curls of brown hair tumbled down either side and framed her face, her glasses making her seem half a decade older than Lucy rather than the one or two years it really was. She was pretty, but her beauty was covered by her sneer and hard glint in her dark eyes. "Pathetic."

Lucy was left gaping as the girl walked out, shock quickly bleeding into rage at how rude she had been.

"I'm sorry about that, are you okay?" Lucy looked over her shoulder in surprise, not realising there had been a second girl. And that that girl was Mira Jane.

* * *

 **AN: Natsu and Lucy are just so cute to write about please send help. Thank you to everyone who's left a review so far! We really appreciate your thoughts and knowing you're enjoying the fic helps to keep us motivated, so the more reviews the merrier! We hope you enjoy this chapter! The next update should hopefully be in about two weeks time! Thank you!**

 **Much Love,**

 **-HN & NJAF**


	8. Warm Blood

**Chapter Eight: Warm Blood**

 _And I can not control it_

 _The way you're making me feel_

 _And you have got me going_

 _Spinning in circles 'round your warm blood_

For the first time since arriving at camp, Natsu didn't feel like a bundle of butterflies were trying to escape his gut. He was still pretty sure his friends were only being nice out of pity, but at least he was confident in the fact that they didn't hate him. Well, Gray might still but Natsu was fine with that, seeing as the feeling was mutual.

Okay, so Natsu didn't _hate_ him, but Gray sure as fuck pissed him off.

"For the last time, it'd be way worse to have a monster live under the bed than to run across a monster in the woods."

Natsu turned on his heel, walking backwards so he could more properly shout at Gray's stupid opinions. "Honestly, a monster that lives under your bed could kill you at anytime! Just grab your ankle and bam! Monster late night snack."

"If you can't successfully run from something in the woods that's your own fault for going out there." Levy added, arm linked with Cana's. "What are you going to do if it's in your house? Move?"

Cana balked at Levy, clearly affronted by her side. "I can't believe my bed mate could be so blind."

"We don't have to be bedmates, you know," Cana waved off her wry comment, nose in the air as she continued to speak.

"Who said the monster under your bed is mean? Maybe they just want to be nice and dry. Now, a monster in the _woods_ is a mean son of a bitch who wants to skin you and suck the marrow from your bones."

"This is blatant mothman erasure and I will not stand for it." Loke gasped, holding his phone to his chest, pausing in his texting to perform the dramatic action.

"We get it, you're gay," Cana rolled her eyes, sharing a cheeky grin with Juvia who at least had the courtesy to cover her snort with her hand. Natsu and Gray shared their own snigger at Loke's offended gasp, hands placed on his hips while he lectured Cana.

"Firstly, a proper love of cryptids is LGBTQ culture, not just gay culture, and secondly," Loke cocked an eyebrow, dragging his hand along his body as though he were showing off a trophy, "I'm bi, I don't deny anyone the opportunity to get a piece of this."

"I wish you would," Gajeel grunted, face relaxed as he glared at innocent leaves caught in the light breeze along the path. Natsu threw his head back, howling. The rest of the group followed suit, Loke's sputters drowned out by their raucous laughter.

"Juvia is deeply saddened to betray Gray, but she must agree with Natsu and Levy. How are we sure the wooded monster is the unkind one? Juvia would much rather face a beast in the wild than where she is supposed to be safe." Juvia shuddered, arms wrapped around herself. Natsu couldn't understand how she was even close to cold, long jeans and long sleeved black shirt with an ankle length fur-lined vest both confusing him and making him sweat just by looking at her.

"Juvia!" Gray gasped. Natsu blinked, chortling at his betrayed expression and Juvia's following plea of forgiveness. Gajeel slung his arm over Juvia's shoulders, rolling his eyes at her squeak. Natsu grinned as he watched his cousin, the beast of a teenager looking as though he'd rather shove someone through a plane glass window before hugging them, when in actuality if you gave him a kitten he'd kill for you. Natsu would know. Lily is what made Gajeel give Juvia the spare bedroom all those years ago.

"I hope I get paired with someone cute," Loke sighed. Natsu rolled his eyes at his friend's comment, turning back to face the front and kicking a stray pebble.

"We know," he groaned, falling back into the group between Levy and Gray. "You want someone to run away with into the night and live your rockstar dream. It's all you've been talkin' 'bout since breakfast!"

Loke snorted, making a face at Natsu before turning back to his phone.

"I just hope I don't get paired with someone I hate," Gray said flatly. Natsu pulled down an eyelid at Gray's pointed look, sneering at the pale boy's middle finger in return.

"Feeling's mutual, dickhead."

"Oh be civil, you two twats," Cana glared over Levy's head, eerily reminding Natsu of Erza for a second. "Besides, despite as tight lipped as Mr. Only-Drummers-Are-Emo-Enough-For-Me has been about his second talent, I can guarantee you all it won't be _guitar_. Boy has two left thumbs."

"Oi, I'mma lefty." Gajeel grunted, easily ignored by the group as they neared the surrounding crowd that swarmed the announcement board.

From his pretty average 5"7' standpoint, Natsu couldn't see over the heads of the crowd, but Gajeel most definitely could, and he had stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's up metalhead?" Natsu turned back to ask.

"The photo."

"What?"

"The application form photo. I didn't think anyone else would see it."

Natsu frowned, remembering taking his own photo. The form had said to include a photo of yourself that accurately describes you, but still showed your face. His own was just a photo of him standing against a white wall. It was pretty much the same as a passport photo, except he wasn't looking at the camera.

"What's wrong with your application photo?" Levy asked, leaving the group behind to say with Natsu and Gajeel.

Gajeel avoided looking at her. Instead, his eyes slid to Natsu, cringing as he revealed precisely what was wrong with it.

"The suit."

Natsu's chest swelled with joy.

"You fucking idiot."

He ran towards the crowd, ignoring Gajeel's groans of shame behind him. He pushed Gray out of the way- the other boy landing on his backside with a very satisfying thud- and shoved through the rest of the mass of bodies, desperate to get to the board and see his cousin's embarrassment on show for all to see.

Once at the front, Natsu's eyes went straight to the photo of his cousin. It wasn't hard to miss. It was _awful._ Not only was Gajeel wearing the hideous white suit purchased for him by his father, but he also wore sunglasses and a fucking _fedora_. An honest-to-god white brimmed m'lady _fedora._ Natsu let out a howl of laughter, not caring about the people around him looking at him strangely. It wasn't until after he'd gotten over his cousins wide-legged, rock signs in the air like he just didn't care stance, that he realized that Gajeel has been paired with none other than Levy.

Oh ho ho, Gajeel was going to love that.

Natsu's eyes slid over the rest of the announcement sheet, snorting over Gray's own heavily eye-linered photo. The snort turned into a laugh when he noticed the moron was paired with Juvia.

It wasn't until his eyes reached the bottom of the list that he found his own partner. His eyes fixed on her photo, all his laughter dying out.

Fuck.

Sitting next to his own photo was a candid of Lucy, smiling and reaching for the camera, obviously just discovering she was being photographed and unable to hide her laughter even as she reached for the person. Her eyes danced, clear and bright, her hair swirling around her as if the breeze had known just when to blow to make her golden hair catch the afternoon sun. She was so pretty. She was so good.

She was breathtaking.

Natsu's fingers itched to grab his guitar and a notepad and find a little nook with a bean bag and an amp so he could lose himself in the music. The crowd milled and brushed against him, their own excited chatter swelling as they looked at their assigned partners.

"Juvia is so happy!"

"Aw fuck."

Natsu turned at the familiar voices, Juvia latched onto Gray's arm and swooning, Gray trying to lean away as respectfully as he could and looking as comfortable as Natsu would feel in a tutu and pointe shoes. And he'd know, considering all the things Juvia had managed to trick Natsu into when Gajeel absolutely refused. Two boys Natsu didn't know were wailing beside them, Levy trying her best to console them with an apologetic smile.

" _Levy why_ ," the dark haired one wailed. The ginger one was hugging her, kids around them casting the trio a wary look before pushing by, and Levy increasingly getting flustered by all the attention.

Natsu was saved from having to abandon the melody playing in the back of his head by Cana appearing from the ether and pushing herself between Levy and the taller boy, her arm slung carelessly over Levy's shoulder and her grin lazy and purposefully relaxed.

"Now, now boys," she cooed, "there's enough of our little Levy to share. You'll still have down time to steal her away from Gajeel to your hearts' content."

Natsu didn't laugh. He was too busy wondering if Lucy had seen the announcement yet. What did she think? Had she asked to be switched yet? Natsu didn't know if they were even allowed to do that, but he figured if there'd be an exemption it would be for Lucy to not have to deal with him for hours on end everyday.

"Natsu shouldn't worry," Juvia said from behind him, her hand comforting on his shoulder. "Juvia knows how silly that is to say, and she may have only known Lucy for a few days, but Juvia knows that Lucy enjoys spending time with her friends, and Natsu, Lucy has already decided you are her friend. Even if you doubt Juvia and the other's thoughts on being more, please do not doubt your friendship with Bunny Girl."

"That's going to be a thing now, isn't it?"

Natsu stiffened at the voice behind him, light and sweet and bouncy like a giggle was just begging to break free. Natsu had made her giggle at breakfast. A fuck ton. Or maybe she had just been laughing at him.

"Lucy!" Juvia exclaimed happily before a sudden shyness was stealing her voice pushing her to put Natsu between her and Lucy. Natsu cocked his head in confusion as he looked at his cousin's best friend, seeing as how once Juvia had decided some one was her friend she lived up to her talent in musical theatre and the drama of the stage, as Juvia liked to put it. Natsu called it batshit crazy. He looked over his shoulder, avoiding Lucy's warm grin as he realized who she was standing arm in arm with. Juvia cast him a kind smile before slipping away, murmuring to herself about finding her beloved once more.

"Yo, Mira. What're you doing with Luce, shouldn't ya be rounding up all the brats for a rave or something?" Natsu asked, relaxing at the familiar face.

"Natsu, you know Laxus and his friends are older than you." Mira Jane smiled at him, a mix of fond and exasperated that was one of her more honest expressions. Natsu knew how hard being the face of the camp was on her, and how she fell back into the persona if she wasn't careful. "Besides, do you really think Ever would risk getting sweat in her hair at a rave?"

Natsu barked out a laugh, picturing the stuck up brunette screaming at a crowd of uncaring people. He wasn't as close with Ever, Bickslow, and Freed as Mira was, her main connection being her friendship with Laxus while Natsu was closer with Mira's little sister, Lisanna.

His joy at picturing Ever's disgust melted away as he thought of his friend. Natsu hadn't seen her in a year or two, not since she had been accepted into Edolas' advanced medical program, her dream of being a vet snowballing with her talent in school and easy to love personality propelling her two years ahead so she had already graduated and was on her first year of university. He knew he'd only have held her back, but he missed his best friend so much it hurt sometimes. Natsu had never opened up to someone like he had with her, and there were days that a certain feeling nagging in his gut told him he had annoyed her so much that she decided to throw herself into her education and run to a new continent.

Just like how Lucy would probably run away after a week of being forced to work with him.

"So," Natsu said, forcing a grin and his thoughts away from Lisanna and how much fun she was having without him around, "You decide Lucy'll be your new protégée?"

Mira gave him a knowing grin that reminded Natsu far too much of her earlier years in the She Devils, pulling Lucy closer to her side and speaking sweetly. "Of course! Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, Natsu, and Erza has been keeping me updated on _all_ the happenings of the campers."

"Snitch," Natsu hissed under his breath. Mira continued speaking as if she hadn't heard anything at all.

"So you'll be seeing me much more often, can't let all you babies have all the fun you know." Natsu cringed, tucking into his scarf to hide his frown. Mira was speaking in the same sweet voice, but Natsu could hear her words for what they really were; a threat. If there was something Mira loved more than her music it was meddling in people's lives, particularly in the affairs of the heart. Which meant Natsu didn't even want to imagine the horrific and scarring things that might happen if she decided to 'help' Natsu woo Lucy, which would not only be a futile effort but might actually ruin Lucy's time at camp, which was the absolute worst thing Natsu could imagine. "And you know how much I love helping out new talent, especially one with as much raw potential as Lucy."

"You think I have talent?" Lucy awed. Mira giggled and nodded, either unaware of Lucy's adoration or simply used to it. Natsu felt a pang as he watched Lucy make heart eyes at Mira. She would _definitely_ have preferred to have the silver haired girl as her partner. That would make her entire time at camp, let alone week.

Natsu jolted when Lucy turned to look at him, still giddy off of Mira's praise as she smiled at him.

"So have you seen the names for who's being partnered?" she asked.

"Erm," Natsu replied, tucking deeper into his scarf.

"You think your partner will be that bad?" Lucy asked sympathetically. She gave him a reassuring smile, Natsu losing himself in how pretty her eyes were and the way the noon sun lit them up. "Whoever they are, they won't be as hopeless with the guitar as I am, I can guarantee you that much."

Natsu smiled awkwardly before turning on his heel and disappearing into the crowd, both to stop himself from saying something stupid like 'The only hopeless you are is hopelessly cute' or other dumb shit, and to save himself from having to see the dissapoint on Lucy's face when she found out he was her partner.

* * *

Lucy blinked in shock as she watched Natsu's back. She turned to Mira Jane, worrying her lower lip.

"Did I say something wrong?"

Mira Jane patted her arm before leading her to the board, shaking her head ruefully and making the silver hair framing her face bounce. It was so pretty and shiney. Lucy would have to ask her her shower routine to get it so soft and healthy.

"Natsu is just a little shy sometimes. He'll get a thought in his head and honestly, it's easier to convince Erza of something than Natsu." Mira Jane gave her another smile, kind but a little strained. "He's best friends with my little sister, Lisanna, have been since they were children, but I still can't read him. It's quite annoying."

Lucy laughed awkwardly, unsure of how Mira Jane's sweet tone lined up with her words. "I don't think I've seen her at camp." Lucy said, diverting the topic away from a certain pink haired boy who had given Lucy the cold shoulder. Just after they had agreed to be friends. "What talent does she focus on?"

"Oh, no no no. Lisanna is in Edolas for her veterinary degree. She skipped the last two grades and got accepted early. You should hear Elfman go on about how proud he is of our genius sister. " Mira Jane grinned, easily maneuvering through the crowd until they stood in front of the board, only a few feet from where they had been talking with Natsu. Lucy half heartedly scanned the pictures in front of her, looking for herself. So Natsu's best friend was a genius going to school in a different country to save animal lives. Okay. Not like he had high standards for who he hung out with then. Of course, he seemed to be as thick as thieves with Gajeel, so maybe Lucy wasn't too out of her depth. She frowned, feeling a headache growing behind her eyes. Hard to read indeed.

"Oh," Lucy breathed, finally finding her own picture. Right beside Natsu's.

They were partners.

"Do you think he's upset?" Lucy asked Mira Jane, tearing her gaze away from the candid photo Natsu had submitted that looked like it belonged on a magazine or album cover.

"Yes, but not for the reasons you're thinking of," Mira Jane soothed. "Natsu's always been a little nervous of what people think of him, and from what _I_ understand, your opinion is ranked very high on that list. You just need to give him time to get used to the idea that you wouldn't actually prefer to die than spend an hour or two with him, and then it will be smooth sailing for you too."

Lucy felt her cheeks heat as Mira Jane spoke, looking at the ground and tightening her arm on the one Mira Jane had looped through. She didn't know why, but the thought of Natsu caring that much about what she thought made her both nervous and a little happy. Which was ridiculous. Because Lucy was here to learn music theory and how to improve herself as a musician, not to find a summer love.

But oh, Lucy didn't think it would be all that bad to have Natsu come and sweep her off her feet. Especially if he were shirtless again...

Lucy squeaked as she tore herself from her thoughts. She ignored Mira Jane's curious look, and distracted herself by waving to where Juvia stood with Cana and Loke and a shorter girl with long blue pigtails and a nervous look in her eye.

"C'mon, Lucy, why don't you introduce me to your friends!" Mira suggested. Lucy blinked at her, already being pulled forward by a giggling and excited Mira Jane before she had the chance to form any words. Thoughts of maybe-shirtless Natsu's drifted away as Lucy went back to aweing over how she was linked arms with her idol, and about to introduce her to Lucy's friends. God, if Loke tried to hit on her Lucy would throw his damn phone in the lake. See how much he'd call her his sunshine then.

* * *

If there was one thing Gray was thankful for, it was the privacy of his cabin. And noise cancelling headphones. But he had left those in the jacket he had accidentally stripped out of at Lucy's cabin, so he was stuck simply ignoring his two mentally imploding bunkmates as he dealt with his own, _actual_ , catastrophe.

He couldn't believe there was no one else at camp who played the violin. What was _worse_ , was he couldn't believe he had actually been stupid enough to _put down_ violin as his second talent. He should have put costume design like Loke, or bullshitted and put piano like Cana. But no, he had decided to be a complete dumbass and be open and vulnerable and _honest._

And now. Now Gray was going to have to dance.

"I'm so fucked."

"You're fucked?" Natsu squeaked, pausing in his spot where he had been pacing for the last three minutes. "I'm paired with Lucy and she's going to hate me? What if I can't teach her how to play guitar? What if _she_ can't teach _me_ how to sing? I'm going to make a fucking fool out myself, holy shit."

"Yeah, you are," Gray said flatly. He had more important things to do than coddle Natsu right now. Like planning how to fake his death, which frankly would be easier than turning down Juvia. He hadn't known the girl very long, but he already had an inkling that she was even more stubborn than Cana. It didn't help that every time she looked at him it was with adoration. His friends might call him emotionless, but even he couldn't crush her so flatly. Also, saying no to people he didn't hate made him break out in hives.

A pair of flying pillows pulled him from his thoughts, both nailing him in the face.

"Oi!"

"Don't be a dick, Strawberry's got enough issues without ya agreeing with the voice in his head." Gajeel grunted, going back to petting Lily obsessively.

"I don't have a voice in my head," Natsu scowled. He resumed pacing, sending Gray a middle finger at his disgruntled noise. Gray watched Natsu walk, changing his step mid stride as Happy wound around his ankles, eager for the muffin Natsu had shoved in his pocket at breakfast that the moron had forgotten about. "And I'm not the only one hiding in here. Juvia was searching for ya high and low when I was heading back."

"Fleeing from Bunny Girl," Gajeel interjected, still glaring at the wall under Gray's bunk and above Loke's. Gray was seriously considering the idea that Gajeel was trying to burn down the cabin with his mind. Natsu ignored his cousin, turning on his heel and pacing back towards the door.

"You don't have to worry about screwin' up in front of her like we all know you will, you could sneeze in her face and she'd still basically worship you," Natsu scoffed. Happy meowed, tiring with his chase and batting at Natsu's ankle. He slowed, allowing Happy to crawl up his leg and his body so he could perch on his human's shoulder.

Gray groaned, claiming all three of what were now his pillows, burying his face in them. Maybe if he was lucky he'd suffocate and this conversation would end.

"Is she like this with everyone she meets?" he asked, not really caring if Gajeel or Natsu heard him.

"Nope," Gajeel said flatly, shattering all of Gray's hopes.

" _Whyyy,"_ he complained, smothering his whine into his pillows. Great. He was going to act like a dipshit in front of a girl who had an apparently massive and unique crush on him. He didn't know why that thought bothered him, but it did, which meant Gray was _not_ looking forward to these next three weeks.

"Trust us when we say we have no fuckin' idea what she sees in you, dude," Natsu said, helpful as always.

"Go jack off to your fantasies of Lucy telling you she hates you," Gray snapped.

"Why, you wanna listen in or something, you pervert?" Natsu snarled back. Gray threw Gajeel's pillow at him, cursing to himself when he almost hit Natsu's dumb cat. Fucking cheater had an adorable built in shield that stopped Gray from maiming him. Natsu sneered at him, lips twitching between a frown and a smile at their fighting. Why were his friends so weird.

Shit.

Natsu wasn't his friend and he definitely didn't think that. He was getting cabin-fever was all. Or the stress of mentally preparing himself to do a musical number from Cats was getting to him. Yeah, that made more sense.

Gray looked back at Gajeel.

"Why the fuck are you so catatonic?"

"Shove it," Gajeel grunted. Lily sat in his arms, not minding the heavy pets his human was using on him, obviously used to being Gajeel's comfort in times of stress. What the giant had to be stressed about that Gajeel couldn't punch into submittance was beyond him, but Gray wasn't about to risk being said punching bag.

"Nah, pervert here has a point," Natsu agreed, crossing his arms over his chest. Happy chirped in agreement, a strange 'aye' sound that made Gray think he'd choked on a kernel of food as a kitten and had done some damage that Natsu was too oblivious to notice. "What's your issue? Levy seems nice enough to wait at least three sessions before laughing at your horrible singing."

"How the fuck am I gonna teach her how to play guitar?" Gajeel asked, more like he was talking to himself than answering Natsu's question. "She's the same fucking size as it!"

Gray wondered if Gajeel knew how often he said 'fuck'.

"I'm more worried about how she's going to teach you how to sing," Gray said instead of answering his question.

Natsu held up his hand for a high five from Gray.

Gray threw Natsu's pillow back at him, hitting him in the face. Happy meowed angrily as his perch was disturbed, jumping from a sputtering Natsu. Gray blinked in surprise as the cat was suddenly on his bunk, having scaled the bed. He curled on Gray's shins, purring as the fluffball pinned Gray to his bed.

"Oi!" Natsu spat, glowering up at Gray. He ignored how the yellow was still noticeable on Natsu's jaw, and the following twinge in his gut, scowling at Natsu before a smug grin broke out and he began to pet Happy. "Don't steal my cat!"

"He chose me. Blame Fluffy here." He mocked. Gajeel remained impassive as he pet his own cat and muttered to himself about breakable girls and guitar scales. Natsu sneered at him, hands shoved in his hoodie pockets as he stopped pacing the room, finally.

"His name's Happy and ya know it!"

Gray snorted, looking back at the cat curled into a tight ball on him. He didn't know that many cats, and as he scratched behind an ear and pulled deeper purrs he wondered if they were all clingy like Happy seemed to be. Then his mind drifted to other cute, clingy, blue creatures and he flopped back into the bed with a groan. How the fuck was he going to deal with Juvia? What if he was weak to her wide eyes? Would he snap at her and make her cry? God, he hated when girls cried. What the fuck was he supposed to do with his hands? What if she tried to _touch_ him while they danced? Gray didn't _do_ casual touching.

"Do you really think Lucy will hate me?"

Gray whipped his head back at Natsu, the dumbass having lowered his gaze and worrying his lip after asking his question. He pulled on the edge of his beanie, dragging the dark gray fabric down so no part of his hair escaped it. Gray scowled as he thought about how it looked like Natsu was trying to hide in the damn fabric.

"Of course not," he spat, huffing as he looked away from Natsu while sitting up. Because he didn't want to look at him. Not because he looked like a fucking puppy with hopeful and wide eyes as he gave his full attention to Gray. His hair might be natural but Gray was adamant that he wore coloured contacts. "I don't know why but she's decided she likes you, and once Lucy has decided you're her friend literally nothing you could do can change that. Trust me."

"She's not just being nice and pitying me?" Natsu asked, hope gone from his expression as he looked over Gray warily.

"Oh definitely," Gray yawned. He scratched under Happy's chin, smiling to himself at the loud purrs he pulled from the odd coloured cat. He sensed Natsu's mood drop, his smile slipping from his face slightly. "But that's just because I can't fathom a reason as to why I'd hang out with you outside of being bunkmates, and in case you haven't noticed, Lucy's a bit better at not being a horrible person to other people than I am. Actually _likes_ most people too, that freak." Gray snorted. Happy rolled into his back and batted at Gray's hand, both offering his white tummy for belly rubs and threatening Gray's wrist. He decided it was worth it and rubbed the softness of Happy's stomach.

"Okay," Natsu said. Gray looked away from Happy, quickly turning back to the cat when he saw Natsu's small smile. It was a little shy, a little soft. It was sickening.

Happy meowed once before slinking away from Gray and abandoning him. He curled onto Gajeel's lap next to Lily and Gray couldn't help but feel betrayed.

"Juvia means well," Natsu called suddenly. "She can be a bit crazy, and weird, but nothing she ever does is fake or half hearted. You don't have to worry about what she thinks of ya, Numbnuts."

That wasn't what he was freaking out about, but Gray nodded anyway, appreciating Natsu's attempt. "Ok, no need to worry."

"But are you _sure_ Lucy doesn't hate me."

Gray groaned, loudly and trying to convey all of his annoyance through a single sound.

"Oi," Gajeel called. Gray looked at him, ignoring Natsu's resumed pacing and wringing of Gajeel's pillow in his hands. "You hurt Juvia and I'll kill you."

Gray let his head fall back into his pillow. He really fucking should have put 'more drums' as his second talent.

* * *

 **A/N: I literally forgot to add the most recent chapter and i'm trash I'm sorry. It's belated but enjoy!**

 **Reviews are always appreciated!**

 **Much Love,**

 **HN & NJAF**


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